Oliver Dowden defended furiously Suella Braverman after the Home Secretary was accused of making “ridiculous” comments about the number migrants that could come to the UK. This came after Ms Braverman claimed that “billions” of people are eager to come to the UK. Dowden said the Home Secretary’s point was “completely correct”, claiming she simply stated that migration numbers are “increasing very, very fast”.
Sky News presenter Sophy Ridge took the Home Secretary’s comments to Mr Dowden, describing them as “ridiculous”.
Striking back, Mr Dowden explained: “It is a function of the global economy and differences in levels of development that countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the United States and others have potentially large numbers of people wanting to come here as economic migrants.”
Mrs. Ridge interrupted, asking, “Billions?”
Mr Dowden replied: “If you will let me finish this point – secondly, if you look at the numbers, we were in a situation where three or four years ago there were dozens of boats.
“Last year we were at 40,000, the expectation is that we will increase even further.
“We have to be prepared to put an end to this and there are very, very large numbers of people who may want to enter the UK and even other developed countries for economic migration reasons.”
When the Sky presenter pressed him on this, saying: “Come on, you know, that’s ridiculous. You know that’s ridiculous,” the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster accused Mrs Ridge of “taking two things a bit out of context here.” to fetch”.
He added: “She’s making a point that is completely correct, which is that these numbers are increasing very, very quickly.”
Mrs. Ridge hit back saying “That’s not the point she’s making!”
The minister went on to defend Ms Braverman, saying: “If we don’t take action, the numbers could increase and increase and increase again – and the potential pool of people, which I think refers to going by the billions , is the fact that – if you look at a world population of about 8 billion people – many billions of those people do not live in economically developed countries like ours.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Ms Braverman said: “In light of the current global migration crisis, yesterday’s laws are simply not fit for purpose.
“There are 100 million people displaced worldwide, and there are probably billions more who would like to come here, if possible.
“They are already coming here by the tens of thousands. And they will not stop until we have made it crystal clear: if you arrive illegally, you can be detained and quickly removed – to your own country or to a safe third country such as Rwanda.
“That’s exactly what the Illegal Migration Act is going to do. That’s how we’re going to stop the boats.”
But the UN refugee agency has described the government’s plans to halt small boat crossings as “deeply concerning”.
The UNHCR representative in the UK said the plans would violate international law.
Vicky Tennant, from the UNHCR, said: “We are very concerned. This effectively closes access to asylum in the UK for people arriving irregularly.
“We believe it is a clear violation of the Refugee Convention, and remember that even people with very compelling claims simply don’t get a chance to put them forward.”