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Home Secretary Suella Braverman arrived at the Manston immigration center in a Chinook helicopter amid mounting pressure to control overcrowding at the site. A Chinook helicopter costs £3,500 an hour to fly, according to the UK Defense Journal, and has a top speed of around 188mph according to its manufacturer, Boeing. Downing Street defended the use of the military helicopter, saying Ms Braverman “traveled in a military aircraft to see the area of operations at sea”. The media is not allowed to attend the visit and Ms. Braverman will not take questions from reporters. Instead, the Home Office is expected to issue a statement after the trip. The Home Secretary visited the Western Jet Foil site in Dover – which was hit by a bomb attack last weekend – on Thursday morning, before visiting the city’s coastguard. He was photographed on board a British Border Force boat before making his way to the Manston immigration processing facility by helicopter. It would take the Home Secretary around 40 minutes to travel from Dover to Manston by car. Ms Braverman was transferred from the Chinook helicopter to a black BMW with tinted windows as she and her entourage arrived at the gates at Manston, and were let straight through security. A No 10 spokesman said: “The Home Secretary was in Dover to be briefed on operations on the ground. This apparently involved business on the canal. He traveled by military aircraft to see the area of operations at sea.’ The Manston center is only meant to accommodate 1,600 people, but around 4,000 asylum seekers were on site at the weekend. Hundreds of refugees have been forced to sleep on pieces of cardboard on plywood floors because there are no beds to accommodate them. Suella Braverman arrived at the Manston immigration center in a Chinook helicopter (PA) The home secretary was taken to a BMW car upon her arrival at the scene (Getty) A female asylum seeker who was in Manston is now taking legal action against Ms Braverman. A legal letter sent on her behalf claims the woman was unlawfully held in “grossly substandard conditions” by Ms Braverman in the overcrowded processing facility. The Home Secretary arrived in Manston by helicopter after visiting Dover (AFP/Getty) James Wilson, the deputy director of Detention Action, which is helping the woman, said the legal action was launched “out of grave concern for the welfare of thousands of people, including children, who continue to be detained at Manston for a period well beyond the legal limits”.
