Suella Braverman has been accused of stirring up division with her derogatory language about asylum seekers.
The desperate Home Secretary, who is fighting for her job after admitting she repeatedly sent government emails to her personal account, claimed on Monday night that migrants fleeing wars and persecution had launched an “invasion on our southern coast”.
Her attack came as she tried to divert attention from her botched immigration policies that have left asylum centres overcrowded, disease-ridden and dangerous.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper accused her opposite number of “failing on all counts” after she launched her tirade against asylum seekers, just a day on from a firebomb attack at an immigration centre in Dover, Kent.
Labour MP Zarah Sultana said: “Disgusted to hear Suella Braverman say there’s an ‘invasion on our southern coast’.
“Language like this whips up hate and spreads division.”
Refugees’ charity Care4Calais founder Clare Moseley added: “For Suella Braverman to use language like ‘invasion’ to describe refugees, people escaping conflict, is offensive. They know what being invaded feels like… we are lucky that most of us do not.”
Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon said: “This kind of dreadful rhetoric is not only wrong, but it is also incredibly dangerous.”
Ms Braverman had said: “Let’s stop pretending they are all refugees in distress. The whole country knows that is not true.” But Mr Solomon pointed out that “the vast majority of asylum claims” here are successful.
Ms Braverman’s irresponsible accusations came as she admitted the immigration system was “broken”, after 12 years of Tory rule.
She had been accused of failing to book hotels for migrants, piling pressure on the Manston processing centre in Kent, designed for 1,600 people. Ms Cooper said: “Conditions have been described as inhumane with risks of fire and infection.
“There are confirmed diphtheria outbreaks, reports of scabies and MRSA outbreaks and reports of violence. The Prime Minister promised his would be a government of integrity, professionalism and accountability.
"Isn’t the Home Secretary letting everyone down and failing on all these counts?”
But Tory MP Lee Anderson joined in with the attack dog rhetoric when he declared: “If the accommodation isn’t good enough for them they can get on a dinghy back to France.” Ms Braverman agreed and branded those who complained “ungrateful”
The daily bill for keeping asylum seekers in hotels has hit £6.8million.
Mrs Braverman was accused of ignoring legal warnings that she was breaking the law by keeping migrants in processing centres for too long. She denied the claim.
But she again came under fire over sending official emails to her private account after she admitted doing it six times in 31 days. Experts warn it may have jeopardised cyber security.
Ms Braverman, dubbed “leaky Sue”, said she was “sorry for errors of judgment” but insisted none of the messages was secret, top secret or concerning national security.
She had quit when Liz Truss was in charge for flouting security guidelines but was reappointed six days by new PM Rishi Sunak.
On Monday night, Labour demanded to know how many times Tory ministers have sent government papers to their personal phones.
Ms Braverman’s odds of becoming the first of Mr Sunak’s Cabinet to be axed fell to 1/6 with William Hill.
