DIRE conditions at an overcrowded asylum-seeker holding centre in Kent constitute a “major incident,” ministers were warned today.

Military personnel have been drafted in to support immigration officials to run the facility, where outbreaks of infections, violence and “catastrophic overcrowding” have been reported, MPs heard on Thursday. 

Responding to an urgent question in the Commons, new Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick insisted that the Manston processing centre provides a “secure environment” for arrivals and their basic needs.