Badenoch suggests migrants should be held in ‘camps’ as small boat crossings approach 50,000 under Labour
Kemi Badenoch has suggested migrants currently housed in hotels could instead be held in “camps”, as the number of English Channel small boat crossings approaches 50,000 under Labour.
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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.
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.
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"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?"
Elaborating on her comment, she 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 "lots of people here have been talking about being harassed by a lot of people in the hotels".
"Not everyone here is a genuine asylum seeker," she added.
"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."
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.