Rishi Sunak has told his Cabinet that the UK will always be a “compassionate, welcoming country” after the Home Secretary came under fire for claiming there is an “invasion” by migrants on England’s south coast.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman suggested Suella Braverman was seeking to “express the sheer scale of the challenge” at hand, but would not say if No 10 would describe the situation in the same way.
It comes after the immigration minister said words must be chosen very carefully and warned against demonising people seeking to come to the UK, as he distanced himself from Ms Braverman’s controversial remarks.
Downing Street said the Prime Minister told his Cabinet at a meeting on Tuesday that the UK will “always be a compassionate, welcoming country”, while Ms Braverman said a “whole Government approach” would be needed to tackle the migrant crisis.
The PM’s spokesman said he had not asked Mr Sunak how he would personally describe the scale of the issue, or whether it was inappropriate for the Home Secretary to use the word “invasion”.
In a combative Commons performance on Monday, Ms Braverman denied ignoring legal advice to procure more accommodation amid warnings that a temporary holding centre at Manston in Kent had become 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 was committed to “stopping the invasion on our southern coast”.
Questioned about her comments, immigration minister Robert Jenrick told the BBC: “It is not a phrase that I have used, but I do understand the need to be straightforward with the general public about the challenge that we as ministers face.”
On Sky News, Mr Jenrick claimed Ms Braverman had used the word “invasion” to describe the scale of the challenge.
“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. I understand and appreciate our obligation to refugees,” he said.
“The scale of the challenge we’re facing is very, very significant.”
Around 40,000 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats so far this year, and Mr Jenrick acknowledged the number could reach 50,000.
Home Office officials previously warned the total for 2022 could exceed 60,000.
“Invasion is a way of describing the sheer scale of the challenge,” he said.
“That’s what Suella Braverman was trying to express. She was also speaking, I think – and this is an important point – for those people who live on the south coast, who, day in, day out, are seeing migrant boats landing on their beaches.”
The Home Secretary has denied claims that she ignored legal advice and rejected calls by officials to procure more hotel accommodation for migrants amid mounting concern about the situation at Manston.
Asked about an LBC report that the Home Secretary refused to sign off on hotels because they were in Tory-supporting areas, Mr Jenrick told the radio station: “We are working to try to disperse individuals across the whole of the United Kingdom so that this burden is borne fairly.
“There’s no politics in that, it’s simple matter of practicality, but that is a symptom of the problem, which is that too many people are crossing the Channel illegally in the small boats and our job is to try to tackle that. There are no easy answers to that.”
No 10 said Ms Braverman told the Cabinet that “large numbers” of people were being taken from Manston to other accommodation, in a bid to “help relieve pressure”.
Some families were said to have been sleeping on the floor and there were reports of outbreaks of disease.
Asked about reports of cases of diphtheria, MRSA and scabies there, Mr Jenrick told BBC Breakfast: “Well, those reports are not correct. They’ve been exaggerated. I spoke to the doctors who are on site and there is a very good medical centre there with – when I was there – three doctors plus paramedics supporting people with medical conditions.
“There have been four cases of diphtheria in a population of around 4,000. But those are all individuals who came into the site with that condition.
“They didn’t pick it up there, as far as we’re aware. They’ve been isolated and they’re being treated appropriately.
“But that’s not to say that I’m content with the condition of the site. I’m not.”
Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor said the Home Office needs to “get a grip” of the situation.
He told Sky News: “What’s happening at Manston, when I visited, was people were sleeping on the floors, on the rubber mats down on the floors, and then very thin blankets or mattresses. Lots and lots of people in a room, all squished in together, very uncomfortable.
“The room for families has lots and lots of different families all sharing the same room, very young children, older children.
“For a few hours, that would be acceptable, but where people are spending long periods of time there, it just isn’t.”
Some 39,913 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year, provisional Government figures show. The Ministry of Defence recorded 46 people arriving in one boat on Monday.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper accused Ms Braverman of ramping up her rhetoric because she had no answers to the problems.
“No home secretary serious about public safety or national security would use the language Suella Braverman did the day after a petrol bomb attack on a Dover centre,” Ms Cooper said.
“But that’s the point. She isn’t serious about any of those things.”
