Suella Braverman has said she will “not be hectored by out-of-touch lefties” as the home secretary made a fierce defence of the government’s crackdown on migrants.
The outspoken minister claimed she has been subject to the “most grotesque slurs” for saying “simple truths” about the impact of migration on the country, as she argued against the idea a “person’s skin colour should dictate their political views”.
The home secretary also claimed people arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel have “overwhelmed our asylum system”, before adding there has been “too much” immigration in recent years.
Braverman, who has previously described the arrival of refugees as an “invasion”, urged politicians to “choose their words carefully”.
Her remarks came during a stormy opening to the illegal migration bill second reading debate.
The controversial bill is designed to stop people claiming asylum in the UK if they arrive through unauthorised means and has been denounced by the UN’s refugee agency as an effective “asylum ban”.
In the Commons, Braverman said: “Despite our reasonable concerns that we have raised on several occasions, like (Tory former home secretary Priti Patel) before me, I am subject to the most grotesque slurs for saying such simple truths about the impact of unlimited and illegal migration.
“The worst among them, poisoned by the extreme ideology of identity politics, suggest that a person’s skin colour should dictate their political views.
“I will not be hectored by out-of-touch lefties, or anyone for that matter. I won’t be patronised on what appropriate views for someone of my background can hold. I will not back down when faced with spurious accusations of bigotry.
“When such smears seep into the discourse of this chamber, as they did last week, accusations that this Government’s policies – backed by the majority of the British people – are bigoted, are xenophobic or are dog-whistles to racists, it is irresponsible and, frankly, beneath the dignity of this place.
“Politicians of all stripes should know better and they should choose their words carefully.”
Braverman said “stopping the boats is my top priority” before adding: “Since 2018, some 85,000 people illegally entered the United Kingdom by small boat – 45,000 of them last year alone. They have overwhelmed our asylum system. Local authorities simply do not have the housing or public service capacity to support everyone.”
She added it is “perfectly respectable for a child of immigrants like me to say I’m deeply grateful to live here, to say that immigration has been overwhelmingly good for the United Kingdom, but that we’ve had too much of it in recent years and to say that uncontrolled and illegal migration is simply bad”.
As well as calling the English Channel crisis an “invasion”, she has claimed that it was her “dream” to send refugees to Rwanda.
In October, the home secretary sounded off about at “the Guardian-reading, tofu-eating wokerati” leading environmental protests.
Earlier, Chris Skidmore became the second Conservative MP to criticise the bill, saying he cannot vote for it as he is “not prepared to break international law or the human rights conventions that the UK has had a proud history of playing a leading role in establishing”.