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Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is failing in the pledge he made upon taking his position in the Coalition government.
27 January 2012
Nick Clegg failing in UK immigration pledge
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's pledge to stop children being held in any UK immigration detention centre has still not been fulfilled, despite it being stated in the Coalition Agreement.
Latest figures from the Home Office revealed that 17 young people had been held in UK immigration detention centres around the country within the last month.
While this figure is a sharp decrease in the average rate of 100 per month in 2009, Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council criticised the figure and asked "when will they actually fulfil this pledge once and for all?"
Cedars, an immigration detention centre in West Sussex which holds detainees before deportation from Gatwick Airport, held 10 young immigrants without a valid UK visa, including five under the age of five.
Tinsley House immigration removal centre held a further six, including four under the age of five while the Harmondsworth facility in West Drayton near Heathrow held the 17th.
The Liberal Democrats have been quick to defend the numbers with a source claiming the numbers were a vast improvement on previous figures when "thousands [of children were] effectively being kept in prisons for months at a time" under the previous government.
"That simply wouldn't have happened without the Lib Dems and Nick Clegg."
The UK Visa Bureau is an independent UK immigration consultancy specialising in helping people prepare for their UK Ancestry Visa application.
