The Home Secretary and the immigration minister could be summoned to face MPs to explain the “car crash” decisions behind the chaos at a migrant holding centre.
Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale said he has put forward an urgent question in the Commons to be answered by Suella Braverman or Robert Jenrick.
The veteran backbencher described the overcrowding at the Manston site in Kent as “wholly unacceptable” and suggested it may have been allowed to happen “deliberately”.
It came as the Channel crossing crisis deepened, amid growing concern over the conditions in which migrants are being held while waiting to be processed once they arrive in the UK, and after one of the sites in Dover was firebombed.
At Manston, people (including children) could be heard shouting “we need your help” from inside the detention centre.
Sir Roger told Sky News there are now more than 4,000 people at the Manston facility, describing the situation there as a “breach of humane conditions”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “There are simply far too many people and this situation should never have been allowed to develop, and I’m not sure that it hasn’t almost been developed deliberately.”
The Home Office is struggling to find hotel accommodation, he said, adding that he now understands that this is a policy issue and a decision was taken not to book additional hotel space.
“That’s like driving a car down a motorway, seeing the motorway clear ahead, then there’s a car crash, and then suddenly there’s a five-mile tailback.
“The car crash was the decision not to book more hotel space,” he said.
Sir Roger believes it was a decision taken by the Home Secretary, but added that he is not sure whether it was the former post holder, Priti Patel, or Ms Braverman.
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke called for an “entirely fresh approach” to tackle the “out of control” Channel crossings when she appeared on TalkTV, adding: “What’s been happening is simply not working.”
Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said that in a forthcoming report he makes clear the Home Office and contractors “need to get a grip” of the crisis, telling the Today programme: “They need to speed up the processing of migrants, they need to make suitable provisions so people can be moved off site as quickly as possible and housed in humane and decent conditions.
“The facilities are not set up for people to be staying. It’s not a residential facility. It’s a short-term holding facility which is supposed to process people through.
“So, the danger is, if people are spending long periods of time in what are very cramped conditions without suitable accommodation, that’s just not acceptable.”
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