Suella Braverman plans for vulnerable child refugees to undergo X-rays

The Independent's Morning Headlines email [View online]( November 02, 2022 [Morning Headlines]( 1 / [Exclusive: Suella Braverman plans for vulnerable child refugees to undergo X-rays]( Home secretary Suella Braverman risks inflaming the migration row with plans for vulnerable child refugees to undergo X-rays to verify their age. The move comes after Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, told cabinet that he wanted Britain to be a “compassionate, welcoming country”, distancing himself from the home secretary’s controversial claim that the UK was being subjected to an “invasion” by asylum seekers. As counterterrorist police took charge of the investigation into the firebombing of a separate immigration facility in Kent, it emerged that Ms Braverman’s incendiary remark had not been cleared with No 10. And Mr Sunak’s official spokesperson declined to say whether the PM regarded it as appropriate. Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said Ms Braverman had been trying to express “the sheer scale of the challenge” but accepted it was necessary to “choose your words very carefully” and said he himself had not used the phrase.   2 / [Matt Hancock insists he ‘hasn’t lost his marbles’ as he flies to Australian jungle for ‘I’m a Celebrity’]( Former health secretary claims he can be reached on “any urgent constituency matters” despite flying 10,000 miles to join a reality TV show 3 / [David DePape pleads not guilty in Paul Pelosi hammer attack as prosecutors describe ‘suicide mission’]( He is facing federal and state charges of attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and other offences 4 /[UK weather: Met Office warning for heavy rain and strong winds after Storm Claudio]( Britons warned of further disruption after Storm Claudio battered the country this week 5 / [Predatory and misogynistic police culture ‘prevalent in many forces’ damning report finds]( ‘We are close to a tipping point in policing,’ the chief inspector of constabulary warns     The Big Question What is the Manston asylum centre? Under-fire home secretary [Suella Braverman]( is under [mounting pressure]( to relieve “catastrophic overcrowding” at Britain’s main asylum processing centre for Channel [migrants](. Ms Braverman is reportedly considering plans to house [asylum seekers]( in [hotels, holiday camps and other resorts]( – alongside members of the public, rather than block-booking entire premises on behalf of applicants – after it emerged that the Manston facility, near Thanet in [Kent,]( is currently occupied by an estimated 4,000 people, despite having been designed for just 1,600. The site, opened in January on a defunct airfield formerly used as a Defence Fire Training and Development Centre, was supposed to be a short-term holding facility where migrants could be hosted for 24 hours and processed by Border Force staff before being moved on to temporary accommodation. However, Manston has been overwhelmed in recent months due to the high number of Channel crossings seen this year, meaning dire living conditions have been allowed to prevail and outbreaks of diseases including diphtheria and MSRA reported. [For the full story click here >](   Watch/ [Jogger jumps into river to save young swan ‘honking and crying’ in distress](   NUMBER OF THE DAY 4,000 – The maximum capacity of the immigration processing centre in Manston is 1,800 people, but this peaked to around 4,000 over the weekend   QUOTE OF THE DAY “We don’t want our partners to watch us dying from the cold live on TV. And we don’t want them to see what else Russia will do to destroy the civilian population of Ukraine.” – Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior Ukrainian adviser and a chief negotiator, said that [Russia]( had one aim: “to destroy the civilian population of Ukraine” by making them freeze to death       Other stories you might like   [Lab worker ‘strangled colleague then sent her love message as cover-up’](   [Jair Bolsonaro breaks silence on Brazil election two days after loss but fails to concede defeat](   [Boris Johnson says he will go to Cop27, piling pressure on Rishi Sunak](       Articles available exclusively to subscribers [Hamish McRae](, The Independent -[The housing boom has clearly ended – but what happens now?](   Other newsletters you might like [The Race Report] The Race Report Fortnightly, 7am (UK time) Written by Nadine White [Sign up]( [Inside Politics] Inside Politics Weekdays, 8am (UK time) Written by Matt Mathers [Sign up](   If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. 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