Home Office proposals to construct an Immigration Removal Centre – dubbed “asylum prisons” – adjacent to a processing centre at Manston have been shelved.

North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale, who was at the forefront of calls for the scheme to be dropped, welcomed the news.

He says home secretary James Cleverly has confirmed he has “taken the decision not to proceed with the Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) at this time”.

Commenting on the announcement, Sir Roger said: “I am pleased that this Home Secretary has taken on board my concerns. I have been aware for some time that while ministers have repeatedly said that there will be no ‘mission creep’ at Manston there has been an alternative agenda within the Home Office.

“While the processing centre may not be perfect – nothing ever is – I regard it as an efficient and well-run operation that is doing the job that it was established to do .

“The addition of a removal centre – a euphemism for a secure ‘asylum prison’ - would not have been welcomed locally and represents a red line that I would not wish to see crossed.

“The plans to upgrade the reception infrastructure – which I do welcome – will go ahead. This will provide a more efficient and effective processing centre for those still arriving by small boats.

“I am satisfied that the undertakings given by Tom Pursglove as Minister of State before the processing centre opened and re-affirmed by Robert Jenrick and by Suella Braverman , then Home Secretary, are being honoured.”

The government’s use of IRCs has proved controversial among human rights groups, immigration support charities and those fighting “unjust detention policies” – with seven in use across the UK.

People are held in locked detention centres while their immigration status is assessed and resolved and is classed as a type of administrative detention rather than criminal justice or punishment.

Critics believe the facilities are “used far beyond its stated purpose” with no indefinite time limit on how long a person can be held there.

A statement from the Home Office said: “We are committed to the removal of foreign criminals and those with no right to be in the UK.

“Despite record pressure on the asylum system, we reduced small boat crossings by more than a third last year and have a clear strategy to process and accommodate migrants arriving in the UK illegally.

“The Illegal Migration Act will build on this success by changing the law so that people who come to the UK illegally can be detained and then swiftly removed to a safe third country or their home country.”

IRCs can be used to hold asylum seekers who had claims refused, have a claim in process and while they are awaiting clearance.

Others may be those who have overstayed or breached terms of their visas or foreign nationals who have been in a UK prison and are awaiting deportation, as well as people arriving via small boats or other illegal means of entering the UK.

But some may have lived in the country entirely legally for many years.

There was controversy a year ago when it emerged there was severe over-crowding at the existing Manston site where claims were processed.

An estimated 4,000 people were crammed into buildings designed for 1,000 and there were claims of illness and poor hygiene.

In a separate development, the Home Office is to launch a statutory inquiry into the alleged mistreatment of asylum seekers at Manston migrant processing centre.

The independent investigation into conditions at the site near Ramsgate follows a High Court decision to grant former detainees permission to seek a judicial review, external to the department's failure to launch an inquiry in December.

A Home Office spokesperson said "significant improvements" had been made to the site since 2022.