Campaigners gathered at an emergency protest in Oxford after it was announced that plans to reopen a nearby immigration centre are set to go ahead.

Around 80 people turned up at the rally outside Carfax Tower following news that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will go ahead with the reopening of Campsfield House in Kidlington, just north of Oxford.

The new Labour government will press ahead with the plans to reopen the controversial detention centre again after it closed in 2018 due to years of problems, including riots, escapes and complaints about conditions.

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Protesters arrived with signs reading "Yvette Cooper Keep Campsfield Closed" and chants of "say it loud and say it clear refugees are welcome here" were heard during the demonstration.

Liberal Democrat MP Calum Miller, the new MP for Bicester & Woodstock, was among those who attended the protest.

After the demonstration, he said: “Many people in this local community fought for many years to see the closure of Campsfield House under Boris Johnson’s government in 2018 so it’s come as a huge shock to learn that this new Labour government intends to carry on with the opening of this facility.

“I have sympathy that the Labour government has inherited a broken immigration and asylum system from the conservatives but reopening a facility like this is not the answer.

“There is no evidence that detention is the right way to ensure that the system gets working and £400m could be far better spent on increasing the processing speed and capacity so that asylum claims are quickly heard.

Green party councillor for St Clement's, Alex Powell said: “It is particularly concerning to see Labour reiterate their commitment to re-opening Campsfield House.

“Oxford and Oxfordshire are places of sanctuary migrants and refugees are welcome here.

“We want no part in the despicable fearmongering and cruelty of this government.”

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Dr Peter Walsh, of Oxford University’s Migration Observatory, told the Today programme the plan to raise the rate of removals to the highest level since 2018 was “not a particularly high bar”.

He said: “If we look at enforced removals, last year there were 6,000 and in 2018 there were 9,000 – so this would require 3,000 more, a 50% increase, which sounds achievable.”

In the year ending March 2024, there were 7,016 enforced returns, an increase of 70 per cent on the previous year (4,127).

Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper said: "We are taking strong and clear steps to boost our border security and ensure the rules are respected and enforced.

"Our new Border Security Command is already gearing up, with new staff being urgently recruited and additional staff already stationed across Europe, working with European enforcement agencies to find every route in to smashing the criminal smuggling gangs organising dangerous boat crossings which undermine our border security and putting lives at risk.

"And by increasing enforcement capabilities and returns we will establish a system that is better controlled and managed, in place of the chaos that has blighted the system for far too long."