Government ‘has failed to control borders’

THE Home Secretary admitted the Government has failed to control the UK’s borders, as she blamed migrants crossing the Channel for overcrowding at the Manston processing centre in Kent.

Suella Braverman also struggled to explain the legal routes which asylum seekers fleeing war and persecution could use to come to the UK, prompting criticism that she was “out of her depth” and did not understand her own policies.

She was repeatedly questioned over where the fault lies for the problems at the Kent migrant holding facility, when she faced the Commons Home Affairs Committee for the first time since her appointment. The former military airfield near Ramsgate was empty on Tuesday, after everyone held there was moved into hotels, but it has been dogged by controversy. At its peak earlier this month, 4,000 were held there – its capacity is 1,600 – amid claims of a “breach of humane conditions”. The Home Office has now been threatened with five legal actions over the site.

Ms Braverman told MPs yesterday she was not going to point the finger of blame at any one person, but later added: “It’s very clear who’s at fault. It’s the people who are breaking our rules, coming here illegally, exploiting vulnerable people and trying to reduce the generosity of the British people.” She said “people smugglers” and those “choosing to take an illegal and dangerous journey to come here for economic reasons” are to blame.

■ A firm contracted by the Home Office to find “initial accommodation” for asylum seekers is working with more than 100 hotels around the country, a High Court heard. Serco is accommodating more than 1,500 asylum seekers, its lawyer said. A Cambridgeshire council is applying to stop a hotel in Wisbech being used as “hostel” accommodation for asylum seekers.