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Concentrate refugees in camps, says Labour peer
Lord West apologies for language on Channel crossings
Labour peer Lord Alan West outside Westminster Abbey last December

LABOUR peer Lord Alan West was forced to apologise today after backing the detention of asylum-seekers in “concentrated places” such as camps.

Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme this morning, the retired Royal Navy admiral said of refugees crossing the Channel in small boats: “We need to actually deal with them in a concentrated place, whether it’s a camp or whatever.”

The former security minister, who served in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet, was discussing government plans to deploy nets to prevent refugee boats from crossing the Channel.

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