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Political responses to re-opening of local immigration centre
22/08/2024
Banbury’s MP supports the government move but a number of his fellow party members don’t
by Noor Qurashi, Local Democracy Reporter
Local Labour politicians have gone against the position of their party nationally in opposing the re-opening of a controversial immigration detention centre, branding the move “disappointing”.
The new Labour government has announced it is pledging to add “290 immigration removals” beds to Campsfield House in Kidlington, just north of Oxford, and press ahead with plans to get it up and running again in a bid to achieve the highest rate of “removals” since 2018.
This comes as the centre closed temporarily in 2018 after years of problems, including riots, escapes and complaints about conditions.
Both Oxford City Council and Oxfordshire County Council have publicly opposed plans to re-open the centre since they were first proposed in 2022, along with some residents, politicians and campaign groups.
Speaking to us now, Labour city council leader Susan Brown said: “Oxford City Councillors will be disappointed to hear this news.
“We have a very longstanding policy of opposing Campsfield House’s use as a detention centre.
“We were in the process of writing to Government to ask them to review the previous government’s plans to reopen it. We will now be writing to express our disappointment at its reopening.”
The comments come amid Oxford’s plans to become a ‘city of sanctuary’ and as Oxfordshire County Council is also in the process of applying for this same status.
Oxford East Labour MP Anneliese Dodds, who is now minister for Development, joined a demonstration against the reopening of the centre in 2017.
In an interview with the Morning Star that same year Ms Dodds had said “immigration detention causes real distress and anxiety for individuals and families and I am clear that indefinite detention of people in the asylum and immigration system must end”.
Labour city councillor Susanna Pressel said: “I was disappointed to hear that the new Labour government is going ahead with plans to re-open Campsfield House.
“Asylum seekers are not criminals! Many have endured traumatic experiences. They need to be cared for in a humane way, while their claims are assessed.”
Labour MP Sean Woodcock for Banbury – in the Cherwell District – is one politician who has expressed his support for the government plans and says he will be meeting with Home Office officials to discuss the issue in coming weeks.
Mr Woodcock added: “Britain is a tolerant and compassionate country and we have a proud tradition of welcoming people fleeing persecution and abuse. But the system needs to be controlled and managed and we need strong borders to maintain public confidence in it.
“The contract for the centre was awarded in June 2024 so it makes sense to use the facility as a measure to help us tackle this mess. But it is essential that such centres are operated properly, carefully inspected & monitored and with residents treated with the utmost respect.”
The comments come as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper says new officials will work with European enforcement agencies to “find every route in to smashing the criminal smuggling gangs organising dangerous boat crossings which undermine our border security and put lives at risk”.
Leader of the Conservatives on Cherwell council, Eddie Reeves, claimed Labour had “u-turned on every conceivable policy area” in the space of a “few short weeks”.
He added: “Labour Councillors have referred to Campsfield House as ‘dehumanising refugees’ and have said that any move to reopen it would be ‘inhumane’. How can they honestly support a party that is looking to reopen it only a matter of weeks into government?
“Locally and nationally, Labour politicians say one thing in opposition and do another. At least, Conservative Councillors have been consistent in recent years: we have never opposed reopening Campsfield House, however difficult a decision that may be for the government.”
Green county councillor Ian Middleton, of the neighbouring ward to the centre, has long opposed the re-opening of Campsfield House.
Mr Middleton said: “Oxford is looking to become an official city of sanctuary, so having a development like this in rural Oxfordshire seems at odds with that ambition, especially as the City Council is Labour led.
“Local Labour members supported my motion to the County Council condemning the previous government’s proposals to re-open Campsfield, so it’s a clear betrayal of that stated moral position for Yvette Cooper to press ahead with it now.”
Deputy leader of the county council Dr Pete Sudbury, a green councillor, added the decision had been made “without any local consultation at all”.
He said: “I know there is a problem for home secretaries as they walk into a Home Office which has been institutionally racist for as long as I can remember.
“We have pretty much an elected dictatorship.”
Oxford Community Independents councillor Dr Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini – Oxford’s first ‘Migrant Champion’ – said: “Immigration detention and its circle of violence is inhumane, ineffective and makes a mockery of Oxford as a City of Sanctuary.
“This detention centre is a prison. It was the site of misery and years of uncertainty for husbands, fathers and friends with the audacity to migrate and seek asylum.”
Liberal Democrat MP Calum Miller, the new MP for Bicester & Woodstock, said he “strongly opposes” the Home Office decision to reopen and expand Campsfield House.
He added: “It is shocking that one of the first major decisions of this Government is to reopen the facility without any local consultation.
“The reopening of Campsfield has been opposed by the local community, local village, district and county councils, as well as consistently by my predecessor, MP for Kidlington, Layla Moran. I will continue to work with those who oppose the reopening of Campsfield House.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam