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Home Secretary Suella Braverman said in a speech to Conservative Party campaigners that a “hurricane” of migrants threatened to enter the country and claimed she would lead the party’s right wing.
Braverman, who has been criticized by some in her party for her tough rhetoric, claimed on Tuesday that immigration in the UK would become “uncontrolled and unmanageable” without the Conservatives in power.
The home secretary is one of a handful of ministers in Rishi Sunak’s government who are racing to position themselves as future leaders as the Conservatives face a tough re-election battle trailing in the polls.
Braverman, who received a standing ovation in a speech at a party conference in Manchester, said the Conservatives were “too squeamish about being smeared as racist to properly defuse the chaos affecting immigrants in the UK”.
“The winds of change that carried my parents across the globe in the 20th century were just a gust of wind compared to the coming hurricanes,” she added.
“Today, the option of moving from a poorer to a richer country is not only a dream for billions of people, but a completely realistic prospect.”
The Home Secretary has said the government will “soon begin closing asylum hotels” as thousands of people continue to be housed in the UK as a backlog of applications grows.
Braverman echoed a controversial speech she gave in Washington last week in which she referred to “fake asylum seekers” who she claimed were only coming to the UK in search of better jobs and pay.
“No one can deny that in poorer countries there are far more people willing to move to the UK than can accommodate them,” she said, adding that “demand will always outstrip supply”.
“Even if we build concrete across the countryside, turn our cities into one giant building site and build skyscrapers from Eastbourne to Elgin, from Hull to Holyhead, it still won’t be enough, ” she said.
The comments drew criticism from Natasha Tsangarides, deputy director of the Freedom from Torture campaign, who said Braverman “joins millions of compassionate people across the country.” There is a serious disconnect, they realize that human rights are for the purpose of protecting human rights.” We”.
“Under her leadership, we have seen the backlog (of asylum applications) grow, with more than 175,000 people living in hardship,” Tsangarides added.
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