MPs today demanded the government abandon its plans to detain and send children to Rwanda, warning that any risk to children “outweighs any perceived damage” to the effectiveness of the government’s policy.

The women and equalities committee’s call came as Scotland’s migration minister warned that widely condemned proposals within the Illegal Immigration Bill “violate human rights.”

Today Parliament also heard that a government adviser blocked an MP from discussing a Syrian refugee’s asylum claim with Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

The Tory MP blamed officials who do not see claimants as “people, but as problems” as he described the “heartbreaking” case of the 31-year-old father of three who was left suicidal over the years-long delays to his case.

The Bill, which is back in the House of Lords on Wednesday, would see the law changed so that people who come to Britain “illegally” through a safe country are not allowed to stay, instead being detained and removed, either to their home country or a safe third country such as Rwanda.

The committee’s chairwoman Caroline Nokes said one of the biggest concerns is the treatment of children in the asylum system, as she urged the government to abandon any intention of detaining and forcibly removing them.

She said: “One of our biggest concerns is the treatment of children within the asylum system.

“Any intention to detain child asylum-seekers under the Illegal Migration Bill and forcibly remove them to Rwanda must be abandoned.

“The risk of harm to children outweighs any perceived damage to the effectiveness of the government’s policy agenda.”

A coalition of leading medical organisations warned last week that child migrants detained under controversial new laws could be at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, clinical depression and suicidal behaviour as they condemned the child detention provisions set out in the Bill.

Scottish migration minister Emma Roddick said today that Holyrood would develop “reasonable mitigations” for the Bill as it is set to undermine the devolution settlement by restricting the powers of ministers and remove the entitlement of a significant number of human-trafficking victims to access support.

She said: “It is our view that this overreaches into the Scottish Parliament’s devolved competencies, undermining our commitments to victims of trafficking and exploitation.”

Orpington MP Gareth Bacon raised the tragic case of a Syrian refugee as he described the devastating effects of delays to processing asylum claims at Westminster Hall today.

Naming him only as Mr A, he said the escaped political prisoner arrived in Britain with more than 150 pieces of shrapnel in his body applied for asylum, having his final interview on October 2021.

Mr Bacon said the “psychologically tired” refugee tried to kill himself on Tower Bridge days after the Home Office said his application would be delayed for a further six months last August.

Mr Bacon warned there were “tens of thousands of Mr As” as he added his “life while in Great Britain has been one of loneliness, fear of deportation and worry for his family which I find heartbreaking.

“My criticism such as it is is aimed squarely at the officials who don't seem to see these people as people, they see them as problems that they will get to when they have got time.”

He said Shaun Bailey, Bromwich West MP and parliamentary private secretary to the Home Office, arranged for a meeting to raise the delays with the Home Secretary at her office on February 22.

“When I turned up for the meeting I was brusquely turned away by a Home Office special adviser called Jake Ryan who refused to allow me in.

“When my honourable friend told him this was unacceptable the special adviser swore in his face. The high-handed arrogance of this unelected political appointee was staggering.”

The Refugee Council told the Morning Star: “The plight of the Syrian refugee who lost all hope in the system is a stark reminder of the suffering endured by those trapped in the backlog.”

The Home Office said: “These claims are strongly disputed.

“Through the Illegal Migration Bill, we will stop the boats by detaining those who come to the UK illegally and swiftly returning them to a safe third country or their home country.”