Hostile environment to blame

The Home Office has issued “heartfelt condolences” following the death of a man at the notorious processing centre in Manston, Kent. The man, who arrived in the UK by small boat on 12 November, died on the morning of Saturday 19 November. The hypocrisy of the Home Office is breathtaking.

The truth is that the Home Office under Theresa May, Amber Rudd, Sajid Javid, Priti Patel and now Suella Braverman, has implemented its “hostile environment” – a deliberate policy specifically designed to make the lives of refugees and asylumseekers in the UK as miserable as possible.

Braverman, the current home secretary, admits she “dreams” and “obsesses” about deporting refugees to Rwanda. A day after the racist terrorist attack on a refugee centre in Dover, she made a speech in the Commons in which she used the language of the far-right to denounce refugees as “criminals” carrying out an “invasion” of the UK.

Several Tory MPs are using parliamentary privilege to name hotels housing asylum-seekers. This is nothing less than incitement for violent attacks to be carried out against them.

No one should be fooled by the crocodile tears now being shed by the Home Office over the death of the refugee at Manston.

Sasha Simic London

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