The Home Office minister Alex Norris has claimed that a new contract for an immigration centre close to Heathrow Airport, that will cost around £100,000 per bed per annum is “great value.”
Norris argued to have detention you need “to do removals” so therefore the detention centre close to Heathrow is the best location.
He said that deportation centres are crucial in securing the UK’s borders, which will serve a deterrent to migrants who will be kicked out of Britain.
The centre will have around 1,000 beds and the government is looking for a commercial partner to run the centre with two site at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook.
The contract will run from 2028 for six year and the deal could be worth up to £1 billion over a ten year period.
Norris told LBC Radio, “You have to have detention in order to do removals.
“That is not an individual staying in that.. that is a bed space. So that’s lots of people coming through that bed space.
“Set it against individuals either being housed in prisons and the annual costs of that or individuals being housed in hotels.”
He added: “This is a detention centre, so it has to be secure, it has to be humane, it has to be dignified.
“But the British taxpayer gets great value for that because it’s not just the people who are removed through that, it’s also the deterrent of individuals knowing that if they come to this country they will be removed and that we have the operational capacity to do it.
“More detention is important and that is why we are bringing that on stream.”
shadow home secretary Chris Philp blasted, “This is madness.
“We should come out of the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) and modern slavery treaty so illegal immigrants and foreign criminals can be rapidly, cheaply deported.”
