The immigration minister insisted the legislation ‘does not turn our back on those in genuine need’.
The immigration minister has launched an attack on “humanitarian nimbyism”, which he said was dominating migration debate as he sought to defend the Government’s under-fire Illegal Migration Bill.
In a speech for a centre-right think tank, Robert Jenrick claimed “astronomical” numbers of migrants were crossing the Channel to the UK and also raised concerns about how the “different lifestyles” of people arriving could undermine “cultural cohesiveness”.
He insisted the Bill “does not turn our back on those in genuine need”, instead presenting it as “undoubtedly the morally just thing to do” as he branded it the “single most significant piece of immigration legislation of modern times” to bring the way the country’s asylum system works into the 21st century.
The comments are likely to prompt a fresh backlash from political opponents and campaigners in the wake of previous criticism levelled at Home Secretary Suella Braverman for her use of rhetoric when she told MPs the south coast was facing an “invasion” of migrants crossing the Channel.
Mr Jenrick told a Policy Exchange audience on Tuesday: “For too long our migration debate has been dominated by humanitarian nimbyism, whereby members of Parliament and devolved administrations have rhetorically welcomed refugees, but then failed to take their fair share. They declare themselves nations of sanctuary and then pull up the drawbridge.
“These politicians grandstand and virtue-signal their supposed generosity, but there’s nothing virtuous about making generous offers at the expense of others when it comes to housing supply, waiting lists, and taxes.”
The number of conflict zones around the world is “increasing and lasting for longer as conflict resolution becomes harder”, he said as he warned: “Whilst it’s impossible to determine the exact numbers, the basic fact is undeniable that the number of people who are willing and able to reach the UK today is astronomical and vastly outnumbers what we are capable or willing to take as a country.”
Mr Jenrick said people crossing the Channel “tend to have completely different lifestyles and values to those in the UK, and tend to settle in already hyper-diverse areas, undermining the cultural cohesiveness that binds diverse groups together and makes our proud multi-ethnic democracy so successful”.
He added: “The current numbers of people arriving here illegally surpass any reasonable numbers that the state could be expected to provide for, or integrate successfully into our national community. And it is for the most disadvantaged in our society, that feel this most acutely.”
The Bill “goes further than ever before to sever the link between entering Britain illegally from a safe country like France and staying here to live and to work,” Mr Jenrick said.
He insisted the proposed legislation “does not turn our back on those in genuine need, quite the reverse”.
“The Bill provides, for the first time, a coherent vision for a humanitarian system that is fit for the 21st century, in which the UK can be an even greater force for good in the world, where a zero tolerance approach to illegal migration is coupled with generous resettlement routes and grounded in control and in democratic consent.
“Instead of taking those people who’ve travelled through and left safe European countries, we will bypass the smugglers to focus our finite resources as a nation on those coming through our dedicated safe and legal routes,” he added.
