Home Office caves to calls for inquiry into Manston migrant detention scandal

The government will hold statutory inquiry into ‘deplorable conditons’ at Manston centre in Kent

The Home Office has caved to demands for a statutory inquiry into the mistreatment of asylum seekers at Manston detention centre.

The decision comes after the government battled for a year to stop such an inquiry in the courts. Lawyers acting on behalf of sixteen asylum seekers argued that they had been held in “deplorable conditions” at the former military base and a public inquiry was necessary to get to the bottom of the failings at Manston.

Now the Home Office has conceeded that a statutory inquiry should go ahead, although questions still remain over who will head such an investigation - following the sacking of the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration David Neal.

Between August 2022 and November 2022, almost all of the 18,000 small boat migrants who arrived in the UK were detained at Manston processing centre in Kent.

For a period, particularly around October 2022, Manston was severly overcrowded, forcing a public outcry and the temporary emptying of the base in November.

A view of the Manston immigration short-term holding facility (PA)

Migrants reported sleeping on cardboard because there was no space at the camp and one man died of diphtheria while at the site.

A future inquiry will investigation allegations of violence, gross overcrowding, spread of infectious disease and severe understaffing. A statutory inquiry will also be able to compel witnesses to testify and would ensure access to vital documents.

It will also be able to scrutinise decisions made by former home secretaries Priti Patel and Suella Braverman over the booking of hotel rooms for asylum seekers. A temporary halt on booking of rooms exacerbated overcrowding problems at Manston at the time, although there have been varying reports over which minister was responsible for this decision.

The High Court has previously heard that unaccompanied children as young as 14 were held at the site, and the longest someone was detained there was 31 days.

The Home Office had argued in court that a statutory inquiry was not needed because an investigation had already been started into the scandal by the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration David Neal.

Mr Neal was then sacked by home secretary James Cleverly in February.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Since 2022 we have overhauled Manston and made significant improvements to key areas of the site including the processing, sleeping, catering and healthcare.

“Despite record pressure on the asylum system, we have reduced small boat crossings by more than a third and have a clear strategy to process and accommodate migrants arriving in the UK illegally.”