Suella skewered by Tory peer for Rwanda photoshoot

Suella Braverman announces new Illegal Migration Bill

We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

A row within the Conservative party has erupted over Suella Braverman’s photoshoot on her trip to Rwanda, with a former immigration minister saying “that’s not the way a Home Secretary should go on”. Tory peer Lord Kirkhope accused Ms Braverman of “leaping around with great excitement” in pictures from the trip, saying a Home Secretary “needs to be a different sort of character”. He added: “I would prefer to have someone who is very stable, determined, yes, but also willing to work with international parties to solve this problem in a way which looks responsible but at the same time is grown up”.

Ms Braverman is currently on a ministerial trip to Rwanda, yesterday visiting facilities being built to house people removed from Britain.

The Government has recently expanded the agreement with Rwanda to incorporate all those illegally entering the UK as opposed to solely asylum seekers.

Speaking to Times Radio, the former immigration minister said: “I’ve been looking at some of the media coverage of this visit to Rwanda, pictures of our Home Secretary leaping around with great excitement, waving our arms around and all the rest of it.

“I don’t think that’s the way home secretary should go on. I have to be critical of her, I’m afraid.

“I think previous home Secretaries have behaved in a more what can I say, in a more calm and determined manner”.

Ms Braverman was pictured beaming outside the newly built houses in Rwanda, which caused the Home Secretary to face some criticism for insensitivity.

Speaking about the Government’s new Immigration Bill, Lord Kirkhope continued: “I think policies like this one on immigration, and even some of the other sharper policies that we seem to be looking at still, I think they should be abandoned, they should be chucked out.

“And we should get back to showing our competence in that middle ground area.”

Earlier this month, Ms Braverman pledged to end the “wave” of illegal migrants that are entering Britain, saying that the problem is costing the taxpayer £6 million per day.

Unveiling the new Immigration Bill in the House of Commons, the Home Secretary said the volume of illegal arrivals has “overwhelmed” the UK asylum system.

She vowed to stop the small boats crisis once and for all by deporting tens of thousands of people entering the UK illegally.

The new legislation will stop asylum, modern slavery, and human rights laws being used by migrants who have breached Britain’s borders.

Don’t miss…
Dowden furiously defends Braverman over ‘ludicrous’ migration remarks [VIDEO]
Major blow for Jeremy Hunt as public do not back Tories on economy [INSIGHT]
Army needs ‘significant investment’ of ‘heavy metal’, war expert says [EXCLUSIVE]

In her statement to the Commons, Ms Braverman warned that “patience has run out” adding that the “law-abiding patriotic majority have said enough is enough”.

On her trip to Rwanda this weekend, she said the UK is planning to begin deportations of migrants to Rwanda from Britain by the summer.

The government in Kigali said it is “ready to absorb the thousands that will come from the UK”.

A Home Office source said “we are certainly working towards getting the flights off before the summer”, adding that the home secretary acknowledged the schedule was dependent on pending legal battles.

The UN’s refugee agency has described the Government’s plans to stop small boat crossings as “very concerning”.

The UNHCR representative to the UK said the plans would break international law.

Vicky Tennant, of the UNHCR, said: “We’re very concerned. This is effectively closing off access to asylum in the UK for people arriving irregularly.

“We believe it’s a clear breach of the Refugee Convention, and remember even people with very compelling claims will simply not have the opportunity to put these forward.”

Source: Read Full Article