The home secretary Theresa May, was accused of allowing “state sponsored abuse of women” at th Yarl’s Wood detention centre after a Channel 4 investigation uncovered systematic racial and physical abuse of detainees.
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, criticised Ms May for extending the contract for Serco to run the detention centre despite allegations of abuse, sexual exploitation, rape and self harm, reports The Guardian.
Speaking at the House of Commons, after Ms May failed to attend a sitting to answer an urgent question about the detention centre, Ms Cooper said,
“There is no point in ministers pretending to be shocked at news of abuse. This is not news. Even now, the ministers have not set up an independent inquiry. Serco has… This is state-sanctioned abuse of women on the home secretary’s watch and it needs to end now.”
The former Foreign Office minister, Alistair Burt, urged the British government to consider “allowing proper journalistic access and transparency.”
Julian Huppert, a Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, said people were at risk of harm in Yarl’s Wood, deeming it a “disgrace under the last government and a disgrace now.”
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, criticised Ms May for extending the contract for Serco to run the detention centre despite allegations of abuse, sexual exploitation, rape and self harm, reports The Guardian.
Speaking at the House of Commons, after Ms May failed to attend a sitting to answer an urgent question about the detention centre, Ms Cooper said,
“There is no point in ministers pretending to be shocked at news of abuse. This is not news. Even now, the ministers have not set up an independent inquiry. Serco has… This is state-sanctioned abuse of women on the home secretary’s watch and it needs to end now.”
The former Foreign Office minister, Alistair Burt, urged the British government to consider “allowing proper journalistic access and transparency.”
Julian Huppert, a Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, said people were at risk of harm in Yarl’s Wood, deeming it a “disgrace under the last government and a disgrace now.”