Suella Braverman has created the “first refugee camp on British soil” by holding up the booking of hotel rooms for asylum seekers, a senior Tory has warned.
The Home Secretary, who is dubbed “ Leaky Sue ”, is accused of breaking the law by detaining new arrivals at a former military base in Kent for weeks on end.
Up to 1,600 people are supposed to pass through the site every day, with checks completed in under 24 hours before they are moved to accommodation.
But government sources said on Tuesday night that a “bottleneck” has formed with around 4,000 stuck at the facility because Mrs Braverman questioned legal advice warning she would be breaking the law if they were not moved to hotel rooms quickly.
During her first, six-week spell as Home Secretary, she demanded a second legal opinion, which held up the booking of rooms, according to officials working in the department.
In the Commons, Mrs Braverman has insisted she did not “block hotels or veto advice to procure extra and emergency accommodation”.
But government sources on Tuesday explained that by simply requesting fresh legal advice it created a delay in securing accommodation, disrupting the flow of people through the Manston processing site.
A Tory former Cabinet minister said: “Delaying the decision means you have got people in inhumane conditions in a camp. She is the first home secretary to create a refugee camp on British soil.”
There have been outbreaks of diphtheria and scabies at Manston, with staff reporting instances of violence as tensions mount over the overcrowded conditions.
A Whitehall source: “She delayed the decision [on booking more hotel rooms].
"She wanted further legal advice as she wouldn’t accept that in front of her, which was quite clear about the unlawful nature of what they were doing. As a result of this, thousands of people are going to be able to make claims for compensation against the government.”
A Home Office insider added: “When you have an influx of people coming across the Channel, you don’t take your time to get accommodation.
“We have two contractors that have a ready supply of hotel rooms and they just wait for ministerial sign-off.
“A submission would have gone to the Home Secretary saying ‘we have today had 900 or 1,000 individuals arrive, you have a statutory duty to do x, y, z, we need to house these people’.
“You cannot delay those decisions as you need to keep people flowing, as there are always more coming in.
“She has clearly broken the law as Manston is not a detention site, it is a processing site, you cannot detain people there.”
A source close to Mrs Braverman on Tuesday did not dispute the claim that requesting a second legal opinion had delayed the booking of hotel rooms.
They said: “The Home Secretary has never blocked the booking of any hotels for migrants. She is working flat out to reduce the numbers in Manston but ensure that people are not left destitute and on the street.”
Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor yesterday said the Home Office needs to “get a grip” of the situation.
He told Sky News: “What’s happening at Manston when I visited, was people were sleeping on the floors, on the rubber mats down on the floors, and then very thin blankets or mattresses. Lots and lots of people in a room, all squished in together, very uncomfortable.
“The room for families has lots and lots of different families all sharing the same room, very young children, older children.
“For a few hours, that would be acceptable, but where people are spending long periods of time there, it just isn’t.”
Last week David Neal, the chief inspector of borders and immigration, told the home affairs select committee he had been left “speechless” at the “wretched conditions” at the site.
On Tuesday, Mrs Braverman’s deputy distanced himself from her claim to MPs there is an “invasion” of asylum seekers in Britain.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, issued a thinly-veiled rebuke, saying:
“In a job like mine, you have to choose your words very carefully, and I would never demonise people coming to this country in pursuit of a better life.
“I understand and appreciate our obligation to refugees.”
He added: “It’s not a phrase that I’d use, but I do understand the need to be straightforward with the general public about the challenge that we as ministers face.”
One former Tory Home Office Minister blasted her comments, claiming: “It just shows what a thug she is.”
Rishi Sunak last week re-appointed Mrs Braverman as Home Secretary just six days after she was sacked for leaking sensitive immigration plans on her personal mobile phone.
