A Home Office minister has criticised the “cheek” of complaints about processing centres from people who have entered the UK illegally.
Chris Philp made the comment amid chaos at Manston migrant base in Kent, where at one point as many as 4,000 people were being detained for weeks in a site intended to hold 1,600 for a matter of days.
The policing minister also described the centre as legally compliant days after immigration minister Robert Jenrick suggested it was not.
Nick Ferrari – Was it really necessary for Suella Braverman to use a chinook helicopter, at a cost of £3,500 an hour, to go to visit Manston?
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) November 4, 2022
Chris Philp – The helicopter wasn't simply to get from to A to B.. she was inspecting operations in the English Channel#LBC pic.twitter.com/1qUOMhdT5c
Mr Philp told Times Radio: “If people choose to enter a country illegally, and unnecessarily, it is a bit, you know, it’s a bit of a cheek to then start complaining about the conditions when you’ve illegally entered a country without necessity.”
He added that people who had passed through other countries in Europe “don’t even have to come here”, and described the numbers as “overwhelming”.
“We’re spending something like two or three billion pounds a year looking after people who have entered the country illegally and unnecessarily,” he said.
“I think, frankly, that is pretty generous, actually… our asylum accommodation is better than most European countries.”
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