‘Ended child detention in immigration centres’ - a new one for children has just opened!

Piya Muqit, Children's Law and Policy Officer, is at the Liberal Democrats party conference taking place this week in Birmingham. Find out about how her first day there went and why she was horrified to see lies about ending child detention flashing on screens at the conference.

I arrived at the Conference in time to hear Lynne Featherstone, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Equalities and Criminal Information speak of the Arab Spring and the participation of women in that movement. She called for a Women's Rights Summer, not only in the Arab world but globally and also spoke about the equality challenges Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT) people faced. She said that the Government would consult next spring on whether LGBT couples should be able to get married and not just settle for a civil partnership.

Following her speech I heard debates around Employment Support Allowance (ESA), a benefit for people who have a limited capability for work because of health conditions or disability, and Work Capability Assessments with calls from party activists to strengthen the language of the conference motion to ensure that vulnerable cases qualified for free legal representation and an opposition to the 12 month time limit for claiming contributory ESA. Of most relevance to Freedom from Torture was a call that ESA eligibility should be carried out by the public sector and NGOs with expertise of disability issues and a presumption that claimants with serious and uncontrollable life-threatening conditions should allocated to the support group and not the work eligibility group.

Those speaking for the motion were members of Liberal Youth, the Liberal Democrat Disability Association, doctors and activists who themselves were suffering from disabilities. Over 51% of applicants who had undergone the current assessment process had contemplated suicide because of how bad they felt going through the assessment and 75% reported on the negative impact the work capability assessment had had on their mental health. The amended motion was voted on and passed- a fantastic result and a show that party activists recognised the flaws in Government thinking.

The atmosphere in the conference was buzzing with cafes spilling over with activists meeting, sharing ideas, cornering parliamentarians, while in VIP lounge there was silence as MPs, Counsellors and their assistants prepared for Fringe events and were in hushed, huddled discussions.

While I waited in the main auditorium for the Party Rally to start, rolling messages of what the party had achieved flashed across giant screens and amongst them I was horrified to read, 'Ended child detention in UK immigration centres. Delivered'. Not only has child detention not ended, but a new detention centre for children and their families was opened at the end of August in Crawley by Damien Green, Immigration Minister. The Liberal Democrats have not kept their commitment to end child detention for immigration purposes and those Liberal Democrats in Government are fully aware of this.

Nick Clegg closed the Rally reminding activists that they were part of 'the family'. This did make me wonder about the integrity of the family when its' the senior member was providing misleading information on ending child detention.

On a more positive note Chris Lucas, described as "a rising star in the party", spoke of his selection for the Liberal Democrat Leadership Program launched at the conference and designed to ensure that there was more diversity in the party and a move away from, as Nick Clegg later described, "male and pale". At least the party has recognised this and are taking positive steps to address it.