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Run-down Penally asylum camp to close on 21 March
By Ione Wells
image captionPhotographs seen by BBC Wales showed a lack of social distancing between beds
An Army camp housing asylum seekers in Pembrokeshire is set to close within days, a UK government minister says.
It comes after inspectors said the camp at Penally and Napier Barracks in Kent were run-down and unsuitable .
The Home Office said it gave safe and secure accommodation for asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute .
Welsh Secretary Simon Hart said the Home Office had agreed to return Penally to the Ministry of Defence by 21 March.
Top NHS officials have warned that UK immigration policy will lead to another Windrush scandal as rising numbers of foreign senior doctors are being forced to quit their jobs. Senior clinicians are being forced to leave the UK and return home to care for parents who are prohibited from coming to Britain by strict immigration rules.
Despite the NHS being under heavy strain amid the coronavirus pandemic, consultants, GPs and health workers told iNews that they are leaving the UK because of ‘harsh and inhumane’ immigration rules that affect adult dependent relatives (ADRs).
Earlier this month, Workpermit.com reported how the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) and five other organisations, had appealed to UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, to change the rules that apply to ADRs. However, the government has so far been unmoved while the number of health professionals leaving continues to rise.
A legal bid to extend the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) has been blocked by the high court. Judges dismissed claims made by campaigners that EU residents living in the UK who fail to apply to remain in the country before the 30 June deadline could face ‘devastating consequences’, similar to those suffered by the Windrush generation.
Triggered by the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), the legal bid urged the Home Office to extend the EUSS deadline to ensure that those who miss the cut-off do not become undocumented and liable to detention and deportation.
Paul Bowen, QC for the JCWI, told the high court: “On 1 July 2021 anyone who has yet to apply, or apply successfully, will be left without UK immigration status and exposed to the consequences of the hostile environment.
Greater Manchester Keep Our NHS Public campaigners protested outside Manchester Royal Infirmary at noon.
Norma Turner from the group said: “The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants survey of migrants with no recourse to public funds found that 58 per cent would be afraid to access healthcare because they would be afraid of being charged for care or that their data would be shared with the Home Office.
“This makes it impossible for migrants to stay safe during the Covid pandemic.
“We call for an end to the hostile environment, otherwise there is no way that the pandemic can be controlled. Racism is bad for all our health.”