Author Archives: Clare Sambrook

The Independent View: Child detention – mind the gap between rhetoric and reality

‘Today marks a big culture shift within our immigration system,’ said Nick Clegg two weeks ago, announcing plans purporting to end child detention. ‘That practice, the practice we inherited, ends here,’ he said.

Sadly, it didn’t end there.

Liberal Democrats interested in these matters might take a look at two dossiers of evidence compiled by End Child Detention Now and published on openDemocracy.

Mind the Gap! Coalition claims and realities for child detention in the UK tests the new ‘compassionate approach to family returns’ as expressed in government documents released on December 16

Drawing on evidence elsewhere, for instance an HMIP report on …

Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged | 18 Comments

The Independent View: Please make sure they really do end child detention

Liberal Democrats are understandably confused about whether child detention is ending or not.

Nick Clegg got the commitment to end child detention into the Coalition Agreement. Only last Thursday Sarah Teather promised: ‘Rest assured. It will be done.’ She also said: ‘We have to be careful not to rush into this as we are dealing with the safety and well-being of often vulnerable children and it is essential it is done properly.’

Quite how children’s safety might be served by not rushing to end a practice proven to wreck their lives is a mystery that suggests leading Liberal Democrats have been

Posted in Op-eds and The Independent View | Tagged , , , and | 26 Comments
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  • Chris Cory
    Excellent. Beyond excellent. Your understanding of the shortcomings of identity politics and emphasis on reinvigorating democracy represents a new and much ne...
  • Peter Wrigley
    Sorry, the link given above doesn't work.Hope this is better: https://keynesianliberal.blogspot.com/2025/05/welcome-immigrants-thanks-for-coming.html...
  • Tom Bailey
    Steve, Thank you for the link to Richard Murphy. Whilst I don't always agree with everything Richard says, he is one of my *go-to* people for granular economic...
  • expats
    Jana 30th Jun '26 - 1:39pm... Nit Picking.. According to Wikipedia..."Manchester is a city in the county of Greater Manchester, located in North West England...
  • Jana
    “… if the state cannot give a person a job what is the point of the state?” Thanks for making this contribution but I have to take issue with the above s...