Anger at plan to reopen immigration detention centre

MP Calum Miller joined campaigners in Oxford to protest the plan to reopen Campsfield House

Politicians and campaigners have said they are "angry" and "disappointed" over plans to reopen a controversial immigration detention centre.

Campsfield House, near Kidlington, Oxfordshire, was shut in 2018 after years of problems, including riots, escapes and complaints about conditions.

Lib Dem MP for Bicester and Woodstock Calum Miller said the Labour government had decided to reopen the facility "without any consultation from local groups".

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government would "establish a system that is better controlled and managed".

A protest against the decision by the Coalition to Keep Campsfield Closed took place at Carfax Tower in Oxford’s city centre on Wednesday evening.

Organiser Bill MacKeith said that "local opposition is clear".

About 50 people attended the protest in Oxford city centre on Wednesday evening

Previously plans for reopening the facility have prompted protests by members of the public and local politicians.

The move would mean that Campsfield House becomes one of the 290 places added to immigration detention capacity in the country.

"I have to say I'm both shocked and angry to hear this news," Mr Miller said.

"There are many different pathways to addressing the problems in the system short of announcing in the middle of the summer that they are planning to increase detention."

Mr Miller posted his letter to the home secretary on X, asking her to reconsider the decision.

Ms Cooper said in a statement: “We are taking strong and clear steps to boost our border security and ensure the rules are respected and enforced.

"By increasing enforcement capabilities and returns, we will establish a system that is better controlled and managed, in place of the chaos that has blighted the system for far too long.”

Mr MacKeith said people have turned up at very short notice because “people feel very strongly” that the decision was a mistake.

He said: “The new government could have made a break from the previous government’s policy of increasing immigration detention and since the centre is not going to be used in order to implement the Rwanda flights plan, it’s not needed.

“It’s not fair to treat people this way, it doesn’t solve any problems, the people inside are not deported on the whole.”

Liz Peretz said she had been involved with trying to get Campsfield closed since 1994.

“I was so pleased when it closed and I’m so devastated, really I am devastated that it’s opening," she said.

“I knew that the Tories wanted to, but I so hoped that the Labour party would listen to reason and wouldn’t re-open it.”