Suella Braverman has rebuffed claims that she and her plan to send migrants to Rwanda are “cruel” as she risked a new row by accusing people arriving on small boats of having “heightened levels of criminality” and “values at odds with our country”.
The Home Secretary said she was determined to deliver her plan to stop anyone arriving illegally in Britain from claiming asylum and to create an added “deterrence” by flying those arriving unlawfully to the African country.
The policy has been condemned by refugee charities and produced a warning from the Government’s Equality and Human Rights Commission that it could expose vulnerable migrants to serious harm. But Ms Braverman said her Illegal Migration Bill, which is passing through Parliament, was needed to tackle an “unacceptable” flow of migrants across the Channel and that she was undeterred by being labelled “Cruella” by critics or rebukes about her language.
She said: “I think people coming here illegally do possess values that are at odds with our country, we have seen heightened levels of criminality related to the people who have come on boats, related to drug dealing, exploitation, prostitution... I refute the suggestion that our measures are unlawful or indeed cruel and inhumane.”
The Home Secretary said she was “not really interested in personal attacks” and was “here to do a very serious job”.
Ms Braverman said a vessel and other sites on land had been identified by her department to house small boat migrants ruled inadmissible for asylum pending their removal from the UK.
She refused to say how many migrants she expects to be removed to Rwanda, however, if the court battles over its legality conclude successfully for the Government.
