Hunt avoids ruling out child detention under new asylum plans
Eremy Hunt did not rule out the possibility of children being detained as part of the government’s recent plans to target asylum seekers who arrive in small boats.
The Chancellor said “special precautions” would be taken for children, but had no recourse to whether the government would lift precautions aimed at preventing children from being detained in connection with immigration cases.
He said questions on details were intended for the Home Secretary.
Reports in The Observer and Sunday Times said the Illegal Migration Bill could result in children and families being detained and deported, effectively reversing a ban introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.
The measures could reportedly be questioned by Tory backbenchers when the bill goes to the House of Commons for its second reading on Monday.
The Home Secretary has made it clear that we will treat children differently under these agreements and I think you need to talk to her about exactly how that is happening
Mr Hunt was asked on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg program whether children could be detained under the government’s plans for asylum seekers and whether there is a ban on child detention.
He said: “We are making special arrangements for children, as the Home Secretary has outlined.
“Public acceptance of legal migration depends on addressing the injustice of illegal migration, and that is why it is so important that we address this issue head-on.”
Asked again if he ruled out a return to child detention, the Chancellor said: “The Home Secretary has made it clear that we will treat children differently under these agreements and I think you need to talk to her about how that is done.” that’s exactly what happens.”
The government’s plans, announced on Tuesday, would see migrants who arrive by unauthorized means deported and face a lifetime ban on returning.
Anyone crossing the English Channel in a small boat would only be entitled to asylum in a “safe” third country like Rwanda.
It would be given the power to detain migrants for 28 days without bail or judicial review, and then indefinitely so long as there is a “reasonable prospect” of deportation.
It also obliges the Home Secretary to deport illegal entrants and it will “radically reduce the number of challenges and appeals that can suspend deportation”.
Outlining the plans in the House of Commons, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Only those under the age of 18 who are medically unfit to fly or are at real risk of serious and irreversible harm – an extremely high bar – in the country to which we are taking them.” be able to delay their removal.”
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/jeremy-hunt-home-secretary-government-suella-braverman-sunday-times-b1066629.html Hunt avoids ruling out child detention under new asylum plans
