Suella Braverman says she will fix broken asylum systemon November 1, 2022 at 3:16 am

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has pledged to fix the UK’s “broken” asylum system and defied opposition calls for her resignation.

During a heated debate at Westminster, Ms Braverman denied she blocked the use of hotels to ease overcrowding at the Manston migrant processing centre.

She sparked some MP’s fury when she said her policies were designed to repel an “invasion” on the south coast.

Labour condemned her remarks and accused her of being unfit for office.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said decision-making at the Home Office had “collapsed” on Ms Braverman’s watch and asked how “anyone is supposed to have confidence” in her.

Some 4,000 people are being held at the Manston processing centre, which is only designed to accommodate 1,600 people on a temporary basis.

Hundreds of people were moved there on Sunday after a man threw firebombs at a separate immigration centre in Dover. He was later found dead nearby.

Manston opened as a processing centre in February 2022, for the growing number of migrants reaching the UK in small boats and are only supposed to be kept there for 24 hours for security and identity checks.

They are then meant to be moved into the Home Office’s asylum accommodation system, which often means a hotel.

When the chief inspector of immigration visited last week, he found some people had been there for over a month. That included one family who had been there for 32 days, sleeping on mats in a marquee.

Ms Braverman has also been accused of ignoring legal advice to procure more accommodation for migrants amid warnings that the centre was in danger of becoming dangerously overcrowded.

Sources have told the BBC the home secretary was warned by officials the government was acting outside the law by failing to provide alternative accommodation.

In a bullish statement in Parliament, Ms Braverman said “I have never ignored legal advice” by keeping people detained at Manston for longer than necessary.

Responding to questioning by Ms Cooper, Ms Braverman said on no occasion did she block hotels or “veto advice to procure extra and emergency accommodation”.

She claimed “on my watch” the use of 30 new hotels had been agreed since 6 September and she had “worked hard to find alternative accommodation to relieve the pressure at Manston”.

Ms Braverman said her policies of co-operating with French authorities and sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda would curb Channel crossings, calling the current system “broken” and illegal migration “out of control”.

A report following an inspection by the prison service in July found the management and treatment of arriving migrants at the centre had considerably improved.

Inspectors found it had been well-equipped and was being professionally run – but said they still had some significant concerns.

Among their findings were a lack of beds and no access to fresh air or exercise. The report said some toilet doors did not close fully and translation services were not always used.

A spokesperson for the Home Office welcomed the report, and said officials “continue to work hard to resolve the current pressures at Manston as an urgent priority”.

But the chief inspector of prisons, Charlie Taylor, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday that “the home office and and contractors need to get a grip”.

He called on officials to “make suitable provisions so people can be moved off site as quickly as possible and housed in humane and decent conditions”.

Ms Braverman’s description of small boats crossing the Channel as an “invasion” drew condemnation, with one refugee charity calling her comments “indefensible”.

In her statement, Ms Braverman warned against using “inflammatory language” and spoke of a “witch hunt” against her, as she attempted to rally support among Tory MPs.

“I’m determined to do whatever it takes,” she went on. “That is why I’m in government. That’s why some people would prefer to be rid of me.”

She then paused as her statement was interrupted by heckles from opposition MPs, before adding: “Let them try.”

A record number of migrants have arrived in the UK on small boats this year, with nearly 1,000 making the crossing on Saturday and a further 468 crossing on Sunday.

The government has said in the year ending June 2022, there were 63,089 asylum applications, 77% more than in 2019.

The UK is spending almost £7m a day on hotels for asylum seekers – and the cost is likely to rise, MPs heard last week.

The Guardian reported on Sunday there were now at least eight cases of diphtheria and a case of MRSA at Manston.