‘Significant harm’: children’s watchdog decries Home Office plan to push out refused asylum seekers

The children’s watchdog for England says the Home Office proposals could be in breach of the Children Act. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/EPA

Shabana Mahmood has been told that her crackdown on refused asylum seekers, including the forcible removal of children from the UK, will cause “significant harm”, in an intervention by an independent watchdog.

Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, said the home secretary’s plan under consultation to push families to leave the UK – including those with children receiving medical treatment – should not be implemented as proposed.