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Priti Patel was warned of security risks before attack on asylum centre

The Home Office previously admitted it was under pressure to open new centres quickly even if locations were ‘unsafe’

By Adam Bychawski
Priti Patel was warned of security risks before attack on asylum centre
Patel was warned that Home Office was not adequately considering far Right threat to asylum seekers. | Isabel Infantes / Alamy Stock Photo
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The Home Office was warned about lax security and the risk of far-Right attacks at its facilities for housing asylum seekers – including the Kent centre that was firebombed this weekend.

In July, then home secretary Priti Patel was told by her own independent chief inspector, David Neal, that the Western Jet Foil facility in Dover that was attacked with petrol bombs on Sunday had a “poor level of security”.

Patel, who cancelled Neal’s six requests for meetings between March 2021 and September this year, was also warned in a separate report published in May about far-Right activity near temporary accommodation for asylum seekers.

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