Can Suella Braverman solve ‘national disgrace’ of UK’s migrant crisis?

Less than a week after returning as home secretary having been forced to resign by Liz Truss for breaching the ministerial code, Suella Braverman is fighting for her political survival as she faces claims her decisions have resulted in a “national disgrace” in Kent.

Several news sources described Braverman as being “under pressure” to deal with the crisis engulfing migrant detention centres in Kent and the number of small boats crossing the Channel.

The situation appeared to reach breaking-point over the weekend after a petrol bomb attack on a centre in Dover in which two people were injured and the suspect took his own life.

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The attack led to the number of migrants being housed at the 1,600 capacity Manston airfield processing centre to rise to 4,000. Many migrants have been at the centre for weeks rather than the recommended 24 hours, and are staying in “wretched conditions”, according to David Neal, chief inspector of borders and immigration. Diphtheria, scabies and MRSA have also been reported.

Sir Roger Gale, whose North Thanet constituency covers the Manston centre, piled more pressure on the government this morning by claiming conditions at the processing centre were caused directly by “car crash” decisions taken deliberately by the home secretary.

“There are simply far too many people [at Manston] and this situation should never have been allowed to develop. And I’m not sure that it hasn’t almost been developed deliberately,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

What did the papers say?

The home secretary is “mired in fresh controversy”, The New Statesman said, after reports in The Sunday Times accused her of ignoring legal advice that the government was detaining thousands of asylum seekers for unlawfully long periods at the centre near Ramsgate.

It comes as an estimated 1,900 more migrants crossed the Channel at the weekend, taking the total for 2022 so far to more than 40,000, compared with 28,500 for the whole of 2021. Last week, MPs were told it is costing UK taxpayers more than £6m a day to house the tens of thousands of asylum seekers and migrants across the UK.

The Daily Mail said the “extraordinary scale of the Channel migrant crisis” represents “a major test for Rishi Sunak’s new premiership”.

“The situation needs to be gripped,” said Politico. “The conditions in the processing centres are bleak and they are unable to cope with the tens of thousands of migrants who arrive in small boats. And all the while, tensions are mounting on the ground in Kent. As the fire bombing incident shows (despite suggestions it was a mental health-related case) there is the risk of it spilling over.”

In one of a growing number of migrant-related scare stories specifically focusing on the influx of Albanian single men crossing the Channel, the Daily Mail reported that residents at a Dover retirement complex have been told to “lock their doors” after incidents of “immigrants trying to gain entrance to people’s homes”.

What next?

To deal with the immediate overcrowding crisis, The Telegraph’s home affairs editor Charles Hymas said Braverman is considering plans to allow Home Office officials to “spot book” rooms in hotels to house migrants rather than block-booking entire establishments in a bid to “regain control of the Channel crisis”.

Longer term, Braverman said earlier this month that migrants crossing the Channel will face a ban from claiming asylum in Britain, while the government has vowed to continue Boris Johnson’s controversial policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda – all designed to deter people from making the journey to the UK.

The Times also reported that the UK government is negotiating a new cross-Channel deal with France to include targets for how many boats are stopped from reaching the UK in order “to prevent Britain’s asylum system collapsing”.

Yet politically “Braverman has landed herself in something of a tough spot”, said Politico. She needs to “show grip on the small boats processing issue” but is “in hiding over claims she ignored legal advice not to leave people at the Manston processing centre for long periods, as well as over her sharing of sensitive government information with unauthorised recipients”.

Sensing an opportunity to weaken the new prime minister and make political capital over the traditionally strong Tory issue of immigration, the opposition has sought to tie the crisis in Kent directly with the chaos that has engulfed the Conservative Party in recent months.

Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock told LBC’s Nick Ferrari that the “massive backlogs” were a symptom of the “revolving door of chaos” that had been afflicting the Conservative Party, including the election, resignation and re-election of the home secretary.