MP Ranil Jayawardena has claimed the biggest problem in controlling immigration into the UK are “the institutions that run this country”, singling out the Home Office for particular censure.
Speaking on GB News, he said:
“I don’t think we’ve got [an amnesty] and I think there’s been a process but I think the fact that officials at the Home Office were suggesting that should have been the policy shows some of the problems that we’re all up against.
“The institutions that run this country are in favour of, generally, of an open border, listen to the lefty lawyers approach – and that’s the challenge that we’ve got to face.
“Here’s the truth about this. You can do whatever you want, if Parliament says you can, and that includes offending the lawyers, the judges in the European Court.
“The trouble is that too many people, including Yvette Cooper, who comes up with these sanctimonious statements about what the last Labour government did; it’s their law that has put us in the position we’re in.
“These guys don’t support any measures, including the Rwanda plan, which would be the deterrent, so it’s real hypocrisy.
“There have been special schemes for Afghanistan for Hong Kong and so on, so let’s cut those out of this debate.
“The key point here is in terms of deportation, and the key ideal, should be that no one is deported because they aren’t coming here illegally in the first place.
“And so that’s why the deterrent of Rwanda, or whatever else, is absolutely the way forward.
“The Albania deal that Robert Jenrick did, has actually really contributed to the 30% fall in the boat crossings. So, there’s more work like that required.
“The Rwanda deal has to get through Parliament. We’ve got to have as tough a piece of legislation as possible. And sadly, when you hear Yvette Cooper saying how great it was under Labour, they’re the ones that set up this mess and we’re now trying to undo it.”
