Fire a blow to asylum reforms

The devastation at the Government's flagship new £100million detention centre are a major blow to the future of David Blunkett's asylum reforms.

Yarl's Wood, a secure hostel built on a former Ministry of Defence base, is a crucial part of plans to dramatically step up the removal of failed asylum seekers from Britain.

The fire comes as the ink has barely dried on the Home Secretary's new Secure Borders, Safe Haven blueprint for overhauling the asylum system.

The plan, published last week, paves the way for radical reform, including allowing thousands of foreigners into Britain to work legally every year in a bid to reduce the record 80,000-plus asylum claims.

Central to restoring dented public faith in immigration controls was a much harder line on deporting failed asylum seekers - at the moment, while about 60 per cent of cases are rejected, only about 8,000 people are removed each year.

Three new detention centres have just opened, but Yarl's Wood, billed as the largest immigration detention centre in Europe, is the flagship establishment designed to accelerate removals.

Mr Blunkett wants 2,500 people deported each month and the theory is that up to 900 at a time would be held in the centre, often as their last stop before being thrown out. The centre is intended for three categories of asylum seekers: failed cases ready for imminent removal; people who have just arrived in the UK whose identity is in doubt; and others who are likely to go on the run.

A typical case was ethnic Albanian Gjevat Cerkini, who went on hunger strike at the centre claiming he was too afraid to return to Kosovo.

The centre has only been open for 13 weeks and held around 400 people, mostly eastern Europeans, not seen as genuine refugees.

Although Yarl's Wood, run by private security firm Group 4 FALCK, is surrounded by 20ft high walls and has two main buildings separated by razor-wire topped fences, facilities inside are humane.

As well as prayer rooms and television lounges, the centre is equipped with video games, football pitches, a nursery and outdoor playground. There are some family rooms but most detainees stay in unlocked twin rooms with en suite bathrooms.

Three-quarters of detainees are young single men who are locked up because of fears they will slip away and live in Britain illegally.

If, as seems certain, Yarl's Wood will have to be closed and rebuilt, the target of removing 30,000 people a year could be missed, denting Mr Blunkett's hopes of creating a system which welcomes real refugees, encourages legal foreign workers, and deals swiftly with false asylum claims.