John McTernan: The coalition position on the children of failed asylum seekers is nothing to crow about

There's rather a lot of self-congratulatory smugness amongst coalition ministers about the ending of the "detention" of the children of failed asylum seekers. Michael Moore's statement yesterday is typical of the oleaginous, do-gooding style. This, he says, is a "long overdue step towards a compassionate but effective immigration system". The harsh truth is that it is a step towards a failed immigration and asylum system.

Coalition ministers routinely talk as though Labour ministers were pantomime villains, knowingly forcing families into utterly unsuitable accommodation from a combination of callousness and a desire to placate the right-wing media. The current government, on the other hand, have only the highest of motives.

The problem is that they are being disingenuous, if not downright dishonest. Any effective system of controlling asylum and immigration has at its heart a binary choice – people are allowed to stay, or they are not. Where people are not granted leave to stay they will need to be repatriated. This is not nice or pleasant but it is necessary, otherwise your controls have no real meaning.

Completely understandably, people whose applications have failed would rather stay in the UK than go home to what is invariably a worse life. UK Borders Agency staff are getting better at persuading families to return voluntarily.. But there will always the need for some enforcement for some families at the end of the process.

This is where things get sticky. Some people abscond and disappear. Unless you favour totally "open borders", you have to admit that this brings the system into disrepute. People who ended up in Dungavel and other centres were assessed as at high risk of absconding. Their children were with them in an attempt to be more humane – the alternative was to detain parents and put their children in care. The detail of the new coalition policy demonstrates this. And if that fails? UKBA will provide "as a last resort, where families resolutely fail to comply, family friendly, pre-departure accommodation." Further, they "will allow children to have the opportunity to leave the premises subject to a risk and safeguarding assessment and suitable supervision arrangements." The door is wide open for detention, but in a "family friendly" form. So that's all right then.

The warm glow felt by coalition ministers won't last long. Their policy will stand or fall on its effectiveness. If the new arrangements make the UK a soft touch then returns will fall and political pressure rise.

Remember too that this is being planned at a time of 20 per cent cuts in spending on relevant staff. Backlogs are likely to rise. To work, the new arrangements will depend on effective enforcement and the use of "pre-departure accommodation". In the end it will be a numbers game, and coalition ministers will reflect that Labour had good reasons for the policies they so shamelessly stigmatise at the moment.