Hackney MPs clash over child detention at Yarl’s Wood

Diane Abbott MP

Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, has clashed with Meg Hillier, Home Office minister and MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch, over the detention of children at Yarl’s Wood Immigrant Detention Centre.

Last month Meg Hillier MP defended how the centre was being run, and signed off a letter to all MPs which denied a national newspaper’s report that women detainees were on hunger strike there.

In contrast, Diane Abbott has called for Yarl’s Wood to be shut down completely, and welcomed a report today from Chief prisons inspector Dame Anne Owers.

Dame Owers has said children were detained at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre unnecessarily, with little consideration for their welfare.

The report also reveals that half of all children detained at Yarl’s Wood are released rather than deported, meaning many women and children are put through the trauma of detention for nothing.

Dame Ower’s report found 420 children were detained over six months last year for an average of 16 days, with one child held for 100 days.

Lawyers are currently preparing a legal challenge to detention.

Diane Abbott said, “The detention of children at Yarl’s Wood is a long-standing scandal and I have long called for it to stop.

“This report just confirms my belief that detention is unnecessary. Half of all children are released, meaning their mothers are not deported and the upset and detention has been for nothing.

“We have heard from countless committees condemning the conditions in Yarl’s Wood and highlighting the damage that detaining children is causing.

“Many countries are in disbelief that this is allowed to happen here in the UK. The Joint Committee on Human Rights even found that the UK was in breach of its human rights obligations by detaining children but detention has continued.

“The best thing that could be done is to close the centre before further damage is done both to detainees and to the UK’s reputation.”