Gavin Newlands MP calls for indefinite detention to be scrapped

Gavin Newlands, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, has pledged his support to a campaign calling for an end to indefinite detention of vulnerable individuals.

The Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group are calling for an end indefinite detention, noting that the UK is the only country in Europe which allows for this inhumane practice to take place.

There have been numerous reports calling for the end of indefinite detention with the joint report All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Migration and APPG on Refugees recommending that a maximum time limit of 28 days should be in place for anyone who is held in immigration detention.

Gavin Newlands, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, said:

“I have actively campaigned against the UK Government’s inhumane and ineffective approach towards immigration detention, and I’m more than happy to lend my support to this new campaign calling for an end to indefinite detention.

“The UK is shamefully the only country in Europe which allows vulnerable individuals to be detained for an indefinite period of time. Let’s not forget that the UK Government also operates a system which allows pregnant women and children to be detained in these prison-like environments.

“The Tories’ callous and cruel approach towards immigration detention was one of the reasons why Renfrewshire rejected any notion of a detention centre being built here.

“The UK Government’s costly approach towards immigration detention is ineffective and they should accept the overwhelming level of evidence which calls on the cruel practice of indefinite detention to be scrapped.”