Britain to end child detention

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is expected to announce the immediate closure of the family wing at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre in Bedfordshire.

He will say that no child will spend this Christmas in an immigration detention centre.

The move has been widely welcomed by human rights campaigners who have cited the inhumanity of detaining children in ‘prison like’ conditions.

Clegg is expected to announce new “assisted voluntary return packages” to help families feel supported throughout their departure, and resettled upon their return.

He is expected to say: “Today the Coalition Government is setting out, for the first time, how we are ending the detention of children for immigration purposes in the UK.

“How we are ending the shameful practice that last year alone saw over 1,000 children – 1,000 innocent children - imprisoned. Our reforms will deliver an approach to families that is compassionate and humane, while still maintaining the integrity of our immigration system.

“Because our starting point is this: there is no greater test of civilised society than how it treats its children.”

Earlier this year, Damian Green, the immigration minister, pledged to dress up as Father Christmas if children are detained this Christmas in Yarl's Wood.

Under the proposed plan, only as a last resort, families who fail to leave the UK would spend no more than three days in “independently run, pre-departure accommodation”.

Shutting the centres was a key Liberal Democrat pledge before the election.