Cabinet minister Michael Gove described violent scenes outside a Kirkby hotel where asylum seekers were staying as "absolutely disgusting" but defended the government's controversial immigration plans.
Mr Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling Up spoke to the ECHO during a visit to Merseyside yesterday. Amid a range of subjects, we asked him about the awful scenes outside the Suites Hotel on February 10 which saw a police van set on fire and missiles aimed at police.
Speaking about those scenes, Mr Gove said: "Those scenes were absolutely disgusting, there are far right organisations that are attempting to stir up discontent and we've got to crack down on them, these people engaging in criminal activity, it is unacceptable."
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We asked Mr Gove whether tensions in the area would be inflamed by the divisive rhetoric currently being used by Home Secretary Suella Braverman as she pushes forward with her hugely controversial illegal migration bill.
The government has been accused of "extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in the UK" by the United Nations refugee agency after the introduction of the new law aimed at stopping small boats from crossing the channel.
Ms Braverman has been forced to admit that her bill may break human rights laws and the UN has said it is "profoundly concerned" by the plans that would give the government the right to criminalise, detain and deport asylum seekers. The Home Secretary wrote on the front page of the bill that she was unable to say that the provisions were “compatible with the convention rights”.
When challenged on the plans, Mr Gove said: "The new scheme that we are going to bring forward will allow safe, legal routes for asylum from other countries. It is basic fairness that we say, we control our borders, we reassure people that we can control the numbers and we all believe Britain is the sort of country that offers a safe haven to people fleeing persecution, we can't offer it to everyone but what we can do is maintain that generosity. In the last year or so hundreds of thousands of people from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan have come here."
He added: "Earlier today I was talking to a wonderful Afghan woman who had come to Merseyside in the summer of last year and is now working in Speke, fully integrated into the community, that is an example of the warm welcome Merseyside gives to people.
"We are committed to 20,000 people from Afghanistan, the key thing is we welcome people who need support but we can't accept everyone and we need to make sure people who come here do so legally on schemes like the Afghan scheme and the Homes for Ukraine scheme."
The Refugee Council is one of a number of charities to strongly criticise the government's plans. They accused ministers of effectively ending the UK's long-standing commitment under the UN Convention to give people a fair hearing, regardless of how they get to the UK.
Mr Gove was speaking during a visit to one of the key sites of the new Liverpool City Freeport at SSO Logistics in St Helens. The freeport is a designated area covering 45km, where a range of economic incentives will be available, covering customs, business rates, planning, regeneration, innovation and trade and investment support. Local councils will be able to retain 100% of business rates growth generated by the freeport tax sites - located in Wirral, St Helens Borough and Halton. It's a plan that local leaders like Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram are on board with.
Speaking about how the freeport will operate, Mr Gove said: "We've been working with Steve Rotheram and the Liverpool City Region to help establish a new freeport, that means there are tax advantages for businesses that locate here and we recognise that Liverpool has great potential.
"One of the reasons it has been selected is because of its heritage but also because of the forward looking nature of many of the enterprises here. The great thing about a freeport is that you can import different components, assemble them all together and re-export them without having to pay extra customs duties, so it acts as a magnet for investment and its a way of helping to support manufacturing and other high paying jobs.
"You can see here in SSO logistics that this is a company making its contribution to net zero, it has the highest environmental standards, electric vehicles - the thing about freeports is that there is no laxity, no reduction in employment, social or environmental rules - the flexibilities are all about tax and customs."
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