There are two potential political scandals to address today, and both are on the home secretary’s desk.
First is the deteriorating situation at Manston processing centre in Kent, described by the chief inspector of prisons as “dangerous” and inhumane.
It’s expected a minister will have to answer questions about it in Parliament this afternoon. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, who visited the site for three hours yesterday, may be asked to step in for Suellla Braverman to explain why the processing facility is almost three times over capacity and families were reportedly left sleeping in tents for weeks.
If the Home Office does not offer up a statement from him, then they are likely to be forced to answer an urgent question.
A government minister, Mark Spencer, appeared to confirm on Sky News this morning that failure to procure other accommodation was deliberate policy, saying that Ms Braverman had prevented people from being moved out of the site so they could be processed more quickly.
But answers have been demanded by Labour, campaigners, and by Conservative MP Roger Gale, whose constituency in North Thanet includes the facility. He gave the home secretary and her predecessor both barrels on Sky News this morning.
He said it was “clearly Home Office policy” not to book hotel accommodation for those held there for the past few years. He said this was a mistake, which has led to significant overcrowding, and that Mr Jenrick was in the process of moving people out.
“I do believe that whoever is responsible, that is either the previous home secretary or this one, has to be held to account because a bad decision was taken and it has led to what I would regard as a breach of humane conditions,” he said. He added that the migrant issue should be addressed “in a grown-up fashion, not by dog whistle politics.”
The home secretary – who the weekend papers reported has been nicknamed “Cruella” by officials – has been tasked with tackling the issue of migrants crossing the Channel in flimsy boats, with the numbers reaching a record 38,000 this year.
MPs were told last week that just 4% of those who arrived last year have had their claims processed. Senior Conservatives are privately concerned that the home secretary – returned to her post by Rishi Sunak six days after she resigned over a security breach – is not the right person to sort out this complex issue.
She may also need to answer questions today, or the next time she appears publicly, about the circumstances surrounding her resignation. She admitted a security breach and said she had reported it “rapidly” as soon as she realised.
But Labour’s Yvette Cooper predicted that Ms Braverman would dodge questions on Manston today after revelations over the weekend that after sending the email from her personal account and realising it was to the wrong recipient, she told them – in an email seen by the BBC – to “delete the message and ignore.”
Having been forced to resign once already, there are already questions about how long she can survive in the post.
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Source: Skynews.com