Reform immigration policy "gimmicks" that were "unravelled by basic facts" attacked by minister in Portsmouth
.jpg?width=96&crop=1:1,smart)
Immigration minister Seema Malhotra has dismissed Reform’s plans to tackle immigration numbers as “gimmicks” that have “unravelled on basic facts and figures”.
The Labour politician challenged Nigel Farage’s “mass deportations” policy during a visit to Border Force Maritime Command in Portsmouth. Reform announced on Tuesday (August 26) a plan to deport 600,000 people from the country, which would enabled by striking deals with despotic regimes such as the Taliban and Iran.
When asked by reporters, Mr Farage said: “Yes, women and children, everybody on arrival, will be detained.” The politician stated the country leaving the European convention on human rights (ECHR) would allow for this to happen, which drew criticism as the legislation currently underpins key international agreements on trade, security and migration, and the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland.
Mr Farage appeared to backtrack on proposals for women and children to be removed while interviewed yesterday. Ms Malhotra, MP for Feltham and Heston, did not comment on Mr Farage’s proposed deal with Afghanistan’s Taliban, but the government has a policy to return people to safe “third countries”.
She added: “What’s also the case is that we’ve seen Reform’s plan unravel after just two days, and if that’s their specialist subject to see their plans unravel on the basic facts and figures, one has to ask the question about what other plans they might have. Whether it’s for our NHS or any other areas of our public services, what we are committed to is taking the serious action that we need and not gimmicks.”
Anti-immigration sentiment
The Labour MP said over 35,000 people have been deported since the last election, stepping up action against criminal smuggling gangs. Anti-immigration sentiment has been growing in the Portsmouth area, with various protests and counter demonstrations taking place.
One of the largest was in Waterlooville after plans were revealed to 35 house asylum seekers in the town centre while their applications were being considered. This was scrapped following various appeals.
When asked if alternative plans to hotels for housing asylum-seekers were being considered, Ms Maholtra said: “What we are doing is making sure that we’re reducing the need for hotels. That’s the critical bit of this and we’ve got to do that by working with communities across the country, making sure that what we’re doing is processing asylum cases much more quickly, making sure that we’re returning those with no right to be here, and making sure that we are delivering on our commitment that we made in our manifesto to see a closure to all asylum hotels in this Parliament.
“We’ve already seen a drop from the 400 asylum hotels that we saw open at their peak under the previous Government, and seeing that now almost halved to just over 200, this is really important that we continue the work that we’re doing to make sure that we see a closure of all asylum hotels in line with our manifesto commitment in this Parliament. That’s what we’re determined to do.”