Immigration minister and Member of Parliament for Newark, Robert Jenrick, has rejected the language used by the home secretary which described the influx of asylum seekers coming to the UK as an "invasion". Mr Jenrick appeared on Sky News on Tuesday morning (November 1) where he explained how important it is for people to choose words "very carefully".
His interview followed Suella Braverman telling MPs on Monday, October 31, about how the public needs to know which political party is serious about "stopping the invasion" of migrants. Mr Jenrick was asked if he would characterise the situation of asylum seekers in the same way.
The Nottinghamshire MP told Sky News that "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".
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He explained that describing people crossing the Channel as an "invasion" was done by Suella Braverman as a way to try and express the scale of the challenge. Mr Jenrick also claimed that Ms Braverman was speaking for people living on the southern coast "who day in, day out are seeing migrant boats landing on their beaches".
He said: "There was a report just yesterday from a lady who found a young migrant from Albania in her kitchen seeking support, asking for money. I know that that's not acceptable in this country."
Mr Jenrick states that fifty thousand people have arrived in the UK on small boats this year, with that number is likely to increase. He also explained that this was to blame for the overcrowding at the Manston processing centre in Kent.
The Minister insisted that this was the "root cause" of what is happening, and that it is not the fault of the government. The Home Office has previously been told to "get a grip" over the issues at the site after a new report from HM Inspectorate of Prisons revealed detainees were not allowed to close toilet doors fully and that they had to sleep on the floor. Some migrants have not been allowed access to phones to inform their families if they were safe, while other detainees waited more than 30 hours to be processed.
Mr Jenrick accepted that "conditions are poor" with people sleeping on mats and staying longer than the intended 24 hours. He said: "This is not a satisfactory situation. I'm not here to defend that.
"I would just say that the root cause of what we're seeing at Manston is not the government. It's certainly not the brilliant Border Force Staff who are managing the site, the contractors, the catering staff.
"The problem is that thousands of people are crossing the Channel illegally every day." The immigration minister has also told Times Radio that the processing of asylum applications was taking too long.
He said: “We want to get to a point where, on the UK side, we are receiving people at Manston, processing them very swiftly, then sending them to accommodation such as hotels or alternatives, and ensuring that those hotels are evenly spread across the country, are as good value for the taxpayer as possible, that claims are processed swiftly.
“They’re taking too long at the moment. And then those individuals, if they’re successful, go on to lead fulfilling lives in the UK and make a contribution to this country.
“If they’re not that, they’re removed from the UK as swiftly as possible. But that is essentially the symptom of the problem. It will always be challenging for the Home Office to handle those symptoms if the scale of the challenge is as great as it is today.”
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