Proposed re-opening of Haslar and Campsfield Immigration Removal Centres

That this House strongly opposes the Home Office’s plan to re-open Haslar Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) in Gosport, Hampshire, which was closed down in 2015; notes the proposed re-opening of an IRC at the site of Campsfield House in Kidlington, Oxford, which combined with Haslar IRC will add a total of 1,000 new detention spaces, an increase of 33 per cent, and will cost the taxpayer £339 million; expresses concern that this reverses the Government’s previous commitment to reducing the size and use of the immigration detention estate, made following Stephen Shaw’s independent review of immigration detention in 2016 commissioned by the Home Office; believes that the £399 million of taxpayers’ money could be spent in a more effective way to handle asylum cases humanely; further notes with concern that the re-opening of the IRCs has been specifically linked to the detainment of people before they are sent to Rwanda under the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Plan; further notes that seeking asylum is not a crime; raises concerns about the lack of effective safeguarding and inhumane conditions across the detention estate as a whole; remembers the 55 people known to have died whilst held under immigration powers since 2000, including 30 through suicide; calls on the Home Office to reverse its decision and to ensure that Haslar IRC remains closed; and calls for an end to the practice of indefinite detention in the UK.