By Tony O’Reilly-
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick has criticised the home secretary’s description of the increase of asylum seekers to the UK as an “invasion”.
Suella Braverman told MPs yesterday that the public needs to know which party is serious about “stopping the invasion” of migrants on the southern coast of the UK.
Jenrick also said the government was not the root cause of deteriorating conditions at a controversy-hit centre for asylum seekers.
Manston, in Dover, is at the centre of an overcrowding scandal after Braverman was reported to have ignored legal advice that the government was detaining asylum seekers at the site for unlawfully long periods by refusing to book hotels.
Jenrick, a close ally of the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said he would “never demonise people coming to this country in pursuit of a better life. I understand and appreciate our obligation to refugees.”
Mr Jenrick, when asked if he would characterise the situation in the same way, told Sky News: “In a job like mine, you have to choose your words very carefully. And I would never demonise people coming to this country in pursuit of a better life.”
“It is leading to the infrastructure that we have in terms of reception centres, like Manston, in terms of hotel accommodation, and asylum and social housing, essentially being overwhelmed.
“Invasion is a way of describing the sheer scale of the challenge.
“That’s what Suella Braverman was trying to express. She was also speaking, I think, and this is an important point, for those people who live on the south coast, who day in, day out are seeing migrant boats landing on their beaches.”
However, he said describing people crossing the Channel as an “invasion” was a way to show the scale of the challenge “and that’s what Suella Braverman was trying to express”.
He said the number of people making the small boat crossings could reach higher than fifty thousand by the end of the year.
He also claimed that Ms Braverman was speaking for people who live on the south coast “who day in, day out are seeing migrant boats landing on their beaches”.
Suella Braverman, who has been appointed Britain's Secretary of State for the Home Department, walks outside Number 10 Downing Street, in London
“There was a report just yesterday from a lady who found a young migrant from Albania in her kitchen seeking support, asking for money,” he said.
“I know that that’s not acceptable in this country.”
However, Labour said that Ms Braverman’s language has put communities, the police and security services at risk – pointing to the weekend’s petrol bomb attack on the Border Force immigration centre in Dover.
Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell told Sky News: “For the home secretary to put our security services at a greater strain through incendiary language is deeply irresponsible.”
Speaking in response to questions in the House of Commons amid concerns about conditions at the Manston processing site in Kent, Ms Braverman had described the deeping Channel crossings as an “invasion on our south coast”.
She said: “The British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast and which party is not.
Within hours her use of the term ‘invasion’ was being championed by right-wing figures such as Nigel Farage.
Refugee charities described the embattled home secretary’s comments as “heinous” and “dehumanising”, while one Labour MP said similar language was why “racists and extremists” felt emboldened to attack vulnerable asylum seekers.
The escalation of rhetoric came a day after the separate Western Jet Foil migrant facility in Dover was fire-bombed by a suspect who was later found deceased.
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants called her comments “heinous” and added: “She’s putting lives at risk.”
MPs and campaigners have criticised home secretary Suella Braverman over the conditions at the centre.
Ms Braverman made the comments as she gave a statement to the House of Commons about overcrowding at the Manston immigration processing centre in Kent, where outbreaks of MRSA and diphtheria have been reported.
The home secretary has denied claims that she ignored legal advice and rejected calls by officials to procure more hotel accommodation for migrants amid mounting concern about the situation, which has been described as a “breach of humane conditions”.
There are thought to be around 4,000 migrants at the processing facility, which is designed to hold a maximum of 1,600, with some said to have been there for up to a month, even though they are supposed to be moved on after 24 hours.
‘More hotels being procured at pace’
Mr Jenrick revealed the government is procuring more hotels to accommodate asylum seekers waiting for their applications to be processed.
Global Migration Crisis
Ms Braverman claimed that “some 40,000 people” have crossed the Channel this year, calling it “a global migration crisis” and “unprecedented”.
Labour’s shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said decision-making for cases of migrants has “collapsed”, telling MPs 96% of the small boat arrivals last year have still not had a decision, and initial decisions alone are taking more than 400 days.
She accused the Government of a “total failure” to stop the proliferation of criminal gangs linked to small boat crossings.
Speaking about the fire attack at Western Jet Foil on Sunday, Ms Braverman described it as “a shocking incident”, but said “investigators must have the necessary space” to carry out their investigations.
Ms Cooper asked whether counter-terror police and counter-extremism units are involved in the investigation into the incident, noting: “It doesn’t make sense for them not to be, why are the not?”
Ms Braverman declined to comment on specifics in relation to the attack.