Nick Clegg, Leader of the Liberal Democrats has today written to Prime Minister Gordon Brown to urge him to stop the policy of detaining children whilst the status of their families is decided.

Here is a copy of Nick Clegg’s letter in full:

Dear Gordon,

I am writing to urge you to stop the scandal of hundreds of very young children, including toddlers, spending this Christmas locked up behind bars in Immigration Centres in Britain. ??One of the best ways to judge the moral compass of a nation is how we treat children – all children.

There is now concrete evidence that the very young children who find themselves locked up even though they’ve done nothing wrong are suffering weight loss, post traumatic stress disorder and long lasting mental distress.

How on earth can your Government justify what is in effect state sponsored cruelty??? Of course we must keep track of adults who are seeking asylum in this country, and deport them where justified. But this can be done through other means.

It is simply indefensible to do so at the cost of the mental and physical wellbeing of very young children. ??I would also ask you to lift the paranoid Government secrecy which surrounds the work of the Immigration Centres. Your Government has consistently refused to provide total figures of the number of children detained.

This attempt to cover up such a morally reprehensible practice only makes matters worse. ??The British people want us to take a world lead in the way we treat toddlers and children, not to inflict systematic cruelty on them behind a veil of Government secrecy. ??I look forward to your urgent reply.

Yours,

Nick