'salty' the comments were defended by Alex Chalk, Minister of Justice. Photo: David Rose for The Telegraph
Lee Anderson said migrants complaining about the Bibby Stockholm barge should 'fuck off back to France'.
Ashfield MP and Conservative Party vice-president said those who are unhappy with conditions in the UK should leave or «better not come at all» amid a government standoff with 20 shelters. the seekers refuse to board the ship.
His «salty» comments were defended by Alex Chalk, the justice minister, who said his «outrage» was «appropriate» after just 15 migrants boarded the barge on Monday. .
Tory Vice Chairman Lee Anderson 'speaks for the party'? when he says that migrants who don't like barges should «fuck off back to France»?
'There's a lot of sense in what Lee says, ' Justice Minister @AlexChalkChelt talks to @NickFerrariLBC. pic.twitter.com/I0pzarm1AU
— LBC (@LBC) August 8, 2023
More than 20 people were on board by Tuesday, but another 20 continued to resist boarding the ship in Portland, near Weymouth, Dorset, despite a ministerial threat to revoke their right. for budget housing.
The Home Office gave them a 24-hour deadline from Monday noon, after which it said it would consider withdrawing their housing support.
However, the migrants' lawyers argue that the Home Office did not sufficiently notify them and take into account their views.
Care4Calais, the charity supporting them, is considering legal action to block the use of the barge for asylum seekers , because, according to him, the Ministry of the Interior did not conduct proper checks on their suitability.
They include a blind man, a victim of torture, and other people who are “very afraid of water” because they see people drowning in the sea.
Some migrants were reluctant to board because of the trauma they suffered from watching people drown. Photo: Paul Grover for The Telegraph
Pouncing on those complaining about the accommodation, Mr Anderson told the Daily Express: “If they're not like barges, they should ship back to France.
He added, «I think people have had enough.»
“These people cross the English Channel in small boats…if they don’t like the conditions they live in here, they should go back to France, or better not come at all.”
He later doubled down on his comments, responding to a critical tweet by MP Diane Abbott, implying that the people he spoke of «were not real asylum seekers».
Wrong again @HackneyAbbott
I told illegal migrants to go back to France, not real asylum seekers.
By the way, I haven't seen you in parliament for several months. Are you on vacation or did you say something stupid again?https://t.co/jL7g2h3eGt
— MP Lee Anderson (@LeeAndersonMP_) August 8, 2023
Ministers say barge accommodation is «simple» and «spartan» but reasonable.
On Tuesday, one of the asylum seekers, a 32-year-old Algerian, said: “It's okay. This is good. The bed was good. The food was good. It's okay.»
Migrants on board said the breakfast menu included eggs, cheese and bread; potato soup, garlic chicken, Irish stew and roast turkey for lunch; and dinner choices of paella, fried fish and oriental chicken.
Protesters deliver 'welcome kits' ; at the main gate of the Bibby Stockholm hotel. Credit: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
A group of local volunteers, known as the Portland Global Friendship Alliance, are to be allowed on the barge to discuss with migrants what activities and support they want.
They offer the service to «make friends» with the locals, walks, cricket, football, sea fishing, additional English lessons and work on the land.
They have already provided gift bags with toiletries, pen and paper, and also clothes and a donated bike for one asylum seeker whose previous cycle was stolen in Bournemouth.
This came as Mr Chalk told lawyers to “keep their politics to themselves” in a latest attempt by ministers to place some of the blame on crisis in the safe haven system for leftist lawyers.
“Over the past 10 years, there has been a growing and I find it deplorable trend for lawyers to actively flaunt their policies and identify more with their clients,” he told Bee -bc. Radio 4 program «Today».
He said that «it would be better for lawyers in general to keep their politics to themselves», and said that it was a mistake on their part to «flaunt their political opposition enthusiastically «. .
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