Home Secretary to visit Dover today amid crisis at Manston processing centre

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has arrived in Dover amid the crisis at the Manston migration processing centre.

Ms Braverman is under mounting political pressure over the “wretched” conditions at the site in Kent, where around 3,500 people are being detained for weeks, despite being designed to hold 1,600 for a matter of days.

Government minister Graham Stuart conceded on Thursday the facility was not operating legally and “none of us are comfortable with it”.

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Asked whether he was happy that asylum seekers were being detained illegally, he told Sky News: “Obviously not. None of us are comfortable with it. We want it tackled, we want to get a grip, that’s exactly what the home secretary is focused on.”

Hundreds of people have been removed from Manston in recent days, with immigration minister Robert Jenrick expressing hope that it will return to being “legally compliant” soon.

He revealed to Sky News that the Home Office is facing legal action following days of overcrowding, but insisted that was “not unusual”.

The government has found itself under further criticism following reports a group of asylum seekers were left at London’s Victoria station without accommodation after being taken off the premises.

And a letter thrown by a young girl over the perimeter fence to a PA news agency photographer, claiming there were pregnant women and sick detainees there, laid bare the grim conditions asylum seekers are facing.

Kent ‘at breaking point’

The home secretary is expected to shy away from press questions during her visit to Dover – the scene of a petrol bomb attack on another immigration facility on Sunday.

Council chiefs across Kent have warned the whole county is at “breaking point”, with concerns of far-right violence fuelled by the failure to control the number of migrants crossing the English Channel.

Mr Stuart, the climate minister, sought to blame an “unacceptable surge” in small boat crossings for the problems, saying that the asylum “system is struggling to cope”.

He told Sky News: “It is not where we want it to be right now and we are simply looking to balance that out, thousands more hotel rooms have been sorted out but it’s unacceptable to the British people and we need to do more to tackle the traffickers in what is an unprecedented surge in illegal immigration.”

Mr Stuart went on to concede “unfortunate language” had been used over the migrant crisis, after the government was told to stop blaming Albanians by the country’s prime minister.

Mr Stuart said he was “grateful” to Albania, revealing they have sent senior police officers to the UK “to speed up processing”, following a rise in the number of people arriving in the UK from the southern European country.

“So we are trying to work in co-operation, but clearly there’s pressure,” he said.

“You can see it from councillors, you can see it from members of parliaments, you can hear it from people and journalists around the country.

“It can lead to language which is sometimes unfortunate and it is worth putting on record our gratitude to the Albanian government for their co-operation in working to sort this out.”

Ms Braverman has singled Albanians out several times over the past week when discussing the rise in people crossing the Channel on small boats, which she has been criticised for calling an “invasion on our southern coast”.

On Wednesday, the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama accused Britain of becoming like a “madhouse” with a culture of “finding scapegoats” during a migration crisis where “failed policies” are to blame.

Four parliamentary committee chiefs piled further pressure on the home secretary to explain how the government will get a grip on both the situation at the Kent facility and the migrant crisis in general.

In a joint letter to Ms Braverman, the chairs of the Home Affairs Committee, Justice Committee, Joint Committee on Human Rights and Women and Equalities Committee expressed their “deep concerns” over the “dire” conditions at Manston, asking what will be done to address the current situation and avoid overcrowding in future.

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Council chiefs in Kent have also written to the home secretary – urging her to stop using the county as an “easy fix” – and have warned they are under “disproportionate pressure” because of Kent’s location.

There are no more school spaces for local children in Year 7 and Year 9 due to the unplanned arrival of young refugees, they said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has described the migrant crisis as a “serious and escalating problem” and admitted that “not enough” asylum claims are being processed, but insisted the government is getting a grip on the situation.

But Labour has accused the government of “losing control of our borders” and said 12 years of Tory leadership is to blame for the “broken system”.