Badenoch suggests migrants held in ‘camps' as crossings near 50,000 under Labour

Leader Live

19 hours ago

Kemi Badenoch has suggested migrants currently housed in hotels could instead be held in 'camps', as the number of English Channel small boat crossings nears 50,000 since Sir Keir Starmer took office.The Conservative Party leader warned that some communities 'don't feel safe', as she visited Epping in Essex, where protesters have gathered in recent weeks opposing the decision to house asylum seekers in local hotels.Latest Home Office figures show that 49,797 people have arrived on British shores by small boat since Labour won last year's general election.Children were seen wrapped in blankets as they arrived into the Port of Ramsgate, Kent, by a lifeboat vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel on Monday.The Conservative Party has claimed the figure has surpassed 50,000 following Monday's arrivals, but the official numbers are yet to be confirmed.At Epping's Black Lion pub, Mrs Badenoch told members of the community: 'We've got to turn things around very quickly. We cannot use rules from 1995, or 2005, or even 2015 for 2025.'Our world is changing very quickly, and we need to adapt to it.'She added: 'Is it possible for us to set up camps and police that, rather than bringing all of this hassle into communities?'Asked what she meant by the suggestion, Mrs Badenoch told the PA news agency: 'We need to make sure that communities like Epping are safe. What a lot of the parents – the mothers and even some of the children – have said to me is that they don't feel safe.'It is unfair to impose this burden on communities.'The MP for North West Essex said that 'lots of people here have been talking about being harassed by a lot of people in the hotels' and continued: 'Not everyone here is a genuine asylum seeker. People are arriving in our country illegally and that is why we have a plan to make sure that people who arrive here illegally are deported immediately.'We need to close down that pathway to citizenship that means that lots of people get here not making any contributions, claiming welfare, claiming benefits.'And we also need a deterrent.'Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called for a deterrent (Lucy North/PA)The Government has previously set out its intention to close asylum hotels by the end of the Parliament.'My worry is that things are actually going to get worse as Labour tries to move people out of hotels and into private accommodation – I think that is going to be a much worse situation,' Mrs Badenoch said.She had earlier told members of the community: 'As a party, we need to also hear from the community about what you think the solutions are. We don't have all the answers; it's important that we make sure that the community is part of the problem solved.'Police outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex where there has been a number of demonstrations (Yui Mok/PA)Referring to protests outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Mrs Badenoch said: 'I think there can be a balance.'There is a big difference between local people protesting about something that's happening in their midst and 'professional protesters' who turn up at lots of different events.'They are not equivalent, and I think that there needs to be some recognition that people can be in their neighbourhood talking about something there, and other people who have an academic or a theoretical or political belief joining that to have a counter-protest.'Also this is your home, this is your community, and that in my view is quite important. People should have some kind of precedence in their own communities versus other people randomly passing through, otherwise we start to change the nature of what protest is.'Protesters outside the former Bell Hotel in Epping (Jordan Pettitt/PA)Demonstrations began on July 13 after an asylum seeker was charged with allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl.Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, denies sexual assault and is due to stand trial this month.A group of refugee organisations and charities have urged party leaders to take a 'strong and united stand' after a wave of anti-migrant protests on the weekend.Hundreds of protesters in Nuneaton marched through the Warwickshire town on Saturday after two men, reported to be Afghan asylum seekers, were charged over the rape of a 12-year-old girl.Signatories to an open letter, published on Monday, told politicians they hold a responsibility to 'end the divisive politics, racist rhetoric and demonising language of the past'.The letter, co-ordinated by campaign coalition Together With Refugees and signed by groups including Oxfam and Amnesty, said: 'Many of the people targeted have already suffered unimaginably, having fled for their lives from countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and Syria.'Now, due to unacceptable delays and a broken system, they are housed in hotels, a collective target of hostility, banned from working, with limited control over their lives or futures.'The coalition added that an 'outpouring of support from communities condemning the hatred is a powerful reminder that these views do not represent the vast majority'.Some protesters, also protesting against asylum hotels and houses of multiple occupation, held signs reading 'What about our girls' human right to safety' at the Nuneaton demonstration.The End Violence Against Women Coalition – another signatory to the open letter – said the 'far-right has long exploited the cause of ending violence against women and girls to promote a racist, white supremacist agenda' and added the 'attacks against migrant and racialised communities are appalling and do nothing to improve women and girls' autonomy, rights and freedoms'.