At our recent members’ meeting, we discussed our three key priorities for our engagement with the new Government and Parliament. They are as follows:
- Keep Haslar (in Hampshire) and Campsfield (in Oxfordshire) detention centres closed
- A 28 day time limit for anyone in immigration detention with judicial oversight
- Develop the community based alternative to detention initiative
But in addition our members were keen that we set out the context and why change on immigration detention is so important.
We feel that the Brook House Inquiry is a powerful statement on the need for fundamental change in the detention estate. (So is the recent inspection of Harmondsworth detention centre by the Chief Inspector of Prisons ). There is a clear need for urgent change.
So it is sobering to go back a few weeks and reflect that Kate Eves has publicly said that only one of her 33 recommendations has been agreed to by the Government.
One of our major calls for the new Government is to withdraw the previous Government’s response and issue an updated response, which fully engages with the report’s evidence and recommendations. The Brook House Inquiry must not be ignored!
