UK faces 'millions in payouts' to channel migrants over 'inhumane' conditions at holding centre
Almost 200 channel migrants could be awarded millions in compensation from the Home Office over claims of appalling conditions and unlawful detention at a holding centre near Dover.
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The asylum seekers have brought legal action against the UK government after alleging 'inhumane' treatment including sexual assault and physical abuse at Manston migrant holding centre between June and November 2022 during the Conservative leadership.
They have also alleged outbreaks of diphtheria and scabies, denial of medical care, theft of property by guards, cold and unsanitary conditions, forcible separation of families, and unlawful detention beyond the 24-hour legal limit.
It comes months after the Home Office announced a public inquiry into alleged mistreatment of migrants at Manston, where some people were placed in tents in 2022. The results have not yet been published.
The situation at Manston was said to have reached a nadir in 2022 after concerns were raised about overcrowding at the site, which has a 1,600-person capacity but was holding 4,000 people in November that year.
Read more: UK could suspend visas from countries that don't 'play ball' by agreeing to returns migrants deal
Health authorities said at the time that migrants at the site, which is used to process people who have arrived by small boats to the UK, would be vaccinated against diphtheria after an outbreak of the highly contagious disease in England.
According to The Telegraph, six legal firms are representing 194 asylum seekers. It also claims the Home Office has refused to settle out of court.
Internal documents reportedly voice concern the claims could be "reputationally damaging" to the Home Office.
Emily Soothill, partner at Deighton Pierce Glynn, Bristol, who is representing some of the migrants, told The Law Society Gazette: "We understand that physical violence and racist language were used against asylum seekers, that detainees attempted to self-harm using barbed wire and that people were locked in isolation vans allegedly as a form of punishment.
"Infectious diseases were also allowed to spread and an asylum seeker sadly died of diphtheria."
She added: "We consider that our clients and thousands of others were falsely imprisoned and that the conditions in Manston were such that human rights were breached. There now needs to be an Article 3–compliant public inquiry into how this was allowed to happen and accountability for the significant harm suffered."
A Home Office spokesperson told LBC: “It would be inappropriate to comment while the inquiry into events at Manston between June and November 2022, and any related litigation, are ongoing.”
Last year, a legal migrant received £203,995.24 in damages from the Home Office for false imprisonment, breach of EU law rights, breach of Article 3 ECHR, and personal injury, according to law firm Clarendon Park Chambers.
The migrant had been lawfully living in the UK as the spouse of a EU citizen but was deprived of the right to work and was detained at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre where their experience caused PTSD.
On August 5, Sir Keir Starmer’s “one in, one out” deal to return Channel migrants to France come into effect s part of his crack down on illegal immigration.
The deal means the UK can send people crossing the Channel in small boats back to France in exchange for asylum seekers with ties to Britain.
Opposition parties have criticised the deal amid reports that the pilot scheme will see only 50 people a week returned to France while this year has seen a weekly average of more than 800 people make the crossing.
The deal has also been blasted by refugee charities, which have urged the Government to provide more safe, legal routes for asylum seekers instead.