Under-pressure Home Secretary Suella Braverman has vowed to fix the UK’s “broken” asylum system as she rejected calls to resign over her response to the migrant crisis. In a combative Commons performance on Monday, Ms Braverman denied ignoring legal advice to procure more accommodation amid warnings a temporary holding centre at Manston in Kent was dangerously overcrowded.
With the Government spending £6.8 million a day putting up migrants in hotels – at an average cost of £150 per person per night – she insisted she was right to order a review of the way the system was working. But she faced criticism from some opposition MPs for inflaming the situation after she said the Government is committed to “stopping the invasion on our southern coast”.
Labour questioned how – with Ms Braverman facing multiple accusations of breaching the Ministerial Code – the public could have confidence in her ability to discharge her responsibilities for national security. Earlier, in a lengthy letter to MPs, the Home Secretary apologised for a series of “errors of judgment” in which she used her personal email to send official government documents.
