New Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson has said that Calais refugee charities are “just as bad as people smugglers”. The outspoken MP for Ashfield, who was given the post by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his recent reshuffle, accused the northern France-based organisations of “fuelling” migrants’ desire to cross the English Channel in small boats.
He told The Telegraph: “You’ve got the people smugglers, you’ve got the camps, the charities at the camps. You’ve then got, when you get to England, the hotels, the lefty lawyers – it is one big multimillion-pound industry.”
Mr Anderson claimed that on a recent trip to Calais with the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, he saw “hundreds of young men” being helped by workers at the British Care4Calais charity, according to the newspaper. He believed the migrants were “encouraged” to make the dangerous crossing by being taught English by the volunteers.
