Christina McKelvie MSP has called for an explanation from the Home Office of events over the last week and an end to all child detention as soon as possible following a statement that children of asylum seekers will no longer be detained in Scotland at the Dungavel detention centre, but instead moved immediately to the Yarls Wood detention centre in England.

SNP MSP Christina McKelvie, who highlighted the failure of the Lib Dems to bring an end to the detention of children earlier this week said:

“If this is a genuine end to the detention of children at Dungavel then it may be a positive step forward, but it does not explain the actions of the Home Office this week or bring an end to the detention of under-16s in the asylum system.

“The new UK government’s claims on asylum and detention have been badly exposed. It must be repeated that the issue in contention was not detention just at Dungavel, but detention of asylum seeker children full stop. Replacing detention at Dungavel with detention at Yarl’s Wood is not an acceptable substitute.

“Having failed at their first test we will be keeping a close eye on the commitments of this new Government to ensure that they live up to their word and do not slip back into the system of child detention so favoured by Labour ministers.”