Braverman ‘has nothing to apologise for’, says Widdecombe

Suella Braverman has ‘nothing to apologise for’ despite the furore over her migrant crisis comments, former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe has insisted. The Home Secretary – reinstated by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak just six days after resigning from Liz Truss’s Government – found herself embroiled in controversy this week after a bullish speech in the House of Commons in which she referenced the 40,000 migrants who have crossed the English Channel so far this year.She told MPs: ‘Let’s be clear about what is really going on here – the British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast and which party is not.’Ms Braverman’s remarks, which came the day after a migrant processing centre in Kent was firebombed, drew widespread condemnation, with SNP MP Tommy Sheppard accusing her of ‘far-right and inflammatory rhetoric’.However, Ms Widdecombe, who stood down as Tory MP for Maidstone, also in Kent, in 2010, dismissed such concerns, saying: ‘She has nothing to apologise for. Suella Braverman has nothing to apologise for, says Ann Widdecombe (Image: GETTY) Migrants and Border Force officers in Dover earlier this year (Image: GETTY)’The use of the word ‘invasion’ was just a metaphor, nothing more than that.’If we look at it holistically, this situation is quite inevitable because for decades successive Governments have done nothing.She explained: ‘They haven’t sent out any sort of deterrent at all and the message that goes out is that if you are comfortable, you’re very, very, very unlikely ever to be removed.JUST IN: Putin’s Wagner Group henchman tipped to continue Ukraine war Suella Braverman speaks in the House of Commons (Image: GETTY)’Because we’ve got a flourishing black economy, we’ve got no national identity card and so people can very easily disappear. And do you blame them?’What we’ve got to do is to send a deterrent message which says that if you come here with a false claim, you’ll be detained, you’ll be dealt with quickly or be sent home.’That is the message we need to send out.’Ms Widdecombe, who served as Prisons Minister from 1995 to 1997, also weighed in on conditions at Manston migrant centre, also in Kent, which were today described as ‘like a zoo’, with cases of diphtheria and MRSA.DON’T MISS ‘Britain has lost control of its borders’ [COMMENT]Man who threw petrol bomb at Dover migrant centre pictured [PICTURES]Braverman rages at ‘witch hunt’ as Patel’s top team turns on Home Sec [REPORT] Manston: Protesters demonstrate their support for migrants at the detention centre (Image: AP) Manston migrant processing centre in Kent (Image: AP)While emphasising that the problems needed addressing urgently, Ms Widdecombe said they illustrated the pressures which had been building on the system, adding: ‘There’s been no serious attempt to address it.’Four senior MPs today piled further pressure on Ms Braverman to explain how the Government will get to grips with the migrant crisis.Parliamentary committee chairs have jointly written to ask for clarity on how the Home Office will cut the number of small boat crossings and reduce ‘as a matter of urgency’ the backlog in cases currently within the asylum system.They likewise voiced ‘deep concerns’ over the ‘dire’ conditions at Manston asylum processing centre in Kent, asking what will be done to address the current situation and avoid overcrowding in future. Migrant crossing numbers have been increasing dramatically (Image: Express)Immigration minister Robert Jenrick confirmed the Government has received ‘initial contact for a judicial review’ over Manston, but said he cannot comment on who is behind the challenge for legal reasons.Speaking to Sky News’ The Take with Sophy Ridge, he said: ‘I believe we have received the initial contact for a judicial review.’He insisted this is ‘not unusual’ as it is a ‘highly litigious area of policy’, but said as the minister responsible he wants to ensure everything is conducted ‘appropriately and within the law’.He added: ‘I have tried to work night and day to ensure that the Manston site is not just legally compliant but is a humane and compassionate place where we welcome those migrants, treat them appropriately and then they leave quickly to alternative accommodation.” Robert Jenrick, the Government’s immigration minister (Image: GETTY)Mr Jenrick suggested conditions at the facility may not currently be legal, as he said: ‘I expect that Manston will be returned to a well-functioning and certainly legally compliant site very rapidly.’He told ITV’s Peston he thinks there are around 3,500 people at the centre as of Wednesday evening, and he expects numbers to get down to an ‘acceptable level’ within around seven days. The site has a capacity of 1,600.He said: ‘We’re procuring more hotels in all parts of the country, decanting the migrants from Manston to those as quickly as we can.’And once we’ve done that, we’ll be able to restore Manston to the kind of acceptable humane conditions that all of us would want to see.’