On Wednesday a few days ago there was a session on Illegal Migration Bill for Amendment 58B being dealt in the House of Lord and some of the members who spoke referred to the Bexhill situation. Their comments below are only part of what they said but they provide the Bexhill reference. The first was Michael German who was the Member of the Welsh Assembly for South Wales East from 1999-2010 until he became a member of the House of Lords. The other contribution was from The Bishop of Southwark who is Christopher Chessun. Here are the pieces that they stated in this debate which can be obtained from here.

Michael German: If the intention is to allow detention in places not currently set out in the Immigration (Places of Detention) Direction 2021, will the Minister give details of where these places will be? For example, will the detention centres include military sites, such as Scampton in Lincolnshire, Wethersfield in Essex and Bexhill in East Sussex, or barges, such as the “Bibby Stockholm”, due to be moored in Portland? With the announcement this week by the PM of more barges to house asylum seekers, can the Minister advise on the cost of these, given that the aim has been to reduce money spent on accommodation, especially if some of this will be used for detention purposes?

Christopher Chessun: The Home Office has announced plans to accommodate asylum seekers on military sites such as Scampton in Lincolnshire, Wethersfield in Essex and Bexhill in East Sussex, or on barges such as the “Bibby Stockholm”, already mentioned, due to be moored in Dorset. So I further ask the Minister to confirm that these sites will not be used for the detention of people deemed inadmissible on arrival but for those awaiting a decision on their asylum application.