Suella Braverman brands UK-Germany small boats deal 'useless' as she fails to say what she doesn't like about Reform UK

10 December 2024, 18:43

Suella Braverman has branded the UK’s latest agreement with Germany to tackle small boat gangs “useless” and “misguided” as she refused to reveal why she wouldn’t defect to Reform UK.

It comes after the UK struck an agreement that will see Germany tighten its laws to make it easier to prosecute people smugglers enabling small boat crossings to Britain.

Speaking to LBC’s Andrew Marr, former Home Secretary Braverman hit out at the deal.

She said: “Well, I think that any agreement that does something to stop the boats and combat illegal migration must be welcome, but my honest fear is that this, in reality, won't achieve any marked or tangible improvement in the problem.

“Fundamentally, we need a strong deterrent to smash the model of the business, the business model of the people smuggling gangs. So they don't engage in this enterprise in the first place, trying to catch up with more investigations after the event is somewhat of a misguided approach.”

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Branding the agreement “useless”, she added: “You know there's nothing you know ostensibly new in this document and this conference. It's more moving the deck chairs, it's more window dressing and it's more lip service.

“It doesn't fundamentally address the crux of the issue, which is the global migration crisis and people heading across southern Europe into Western Europe, into the UK, in their droves, using very sophisticated, highly networked pan-national smuggling gangs.”

Speaking to Andrew, Ms Braverman failed to name one thing she dislikes about Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, depsite being asked five times.

It comes after British property billionaire Nick Candy quit the Conservative party to become Reform’s treasurer.

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Mr Candy accused the Tories of a "complete breach of trust with the wealth creators in our country" as he announced he would be taking up a fundraising role for Reform in the new year.

Despite the wave of defections, Mr Braverman’s loyalty to the Tories seemingly remains firm.

She said: “I’m not defecting to Reform. I've just been elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament by the good people of Fareham and Waterlooville.

“That's a great, great honour, and I have no intention of defecting. I'm here as a Conservative Member of Parliament. I'm going to fight for what I believe in.

“Listen, I am a Conservative Member of Parliament, and I want my party to succeed. I've been very open about our failures. I've apologized for those failures.

“We now need to rebuild trust with the British people by being honest and by demonstrating that we're taking their concerns seriously. I believe my party is the right party to do that.”

Refusing to name one thing she disliked about Reform, Ms Braverman joked: “I've been a Conservative Party member, I'm gonna let you into a little secret here, Andrew, since I was about 14, does that make me cool, or does it make me uncool?”

Ignoring the question for a fifth and final time, she said: “I'm not defecting to Reform. I don't know how many times I can tell you.”