The Home Secretary wants the camp open by New Year’s Day
Not content with being a part of the government whose reaction to the coronavirus pandemic has left Britain facing potential food shortages this Christmas, Priti Patel seems keen to make a few hundred more lives miserable this festive season as she looks to bypass planning laws in a bid to rush through the opening of a refugee camp without mains water or drainage.
According to the Mirror, Patel plans to place 300 asylum seekers who arrived in the United Kingdom after crossing the Channel in a camp in a Hampshire village before New Year’s Day.
The refugees, all adult men, will be placed on Ministry of Defence land near the village of Barton Stacey. Currently, the land is without electricity and running water.
The plan by Patel has been described as “inhuman” by Tory MP Caroline Nokes, who added: “It will be like a prison camp and conditions will be appalling. There are no plans to provide healthcare services on site, which will add to the strain on local GPs. I am shocked anyone could think this is a good idea”.
The Home Secretary, who earlier this year was subject to a Cabinet Office inquiry into her conduct which found it “amounted to behaviour that can be described as bullying”, has been accused of using “morally repugnant” practices to keep refugees out of the UK.
In the aftermath of the inquiry into her behaviour, Patel was backed by prime minister Boris Johnson, eventually leading to the resignation of his own ethics adviser.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The plans have not been finalised, and if we go ahead we will continue to work with local partners to progress in a way which addresses the impact of the local community.”
