Suella Braverman’s critics ignore an uncomfortable truth

Suella Braverman is in the firing line. But when she took to her feet in the Commons yesterday, she showed exactly why there is so much pressure on Rishi Sunak to get rid of her: Braverman actually wants to reduce illegal immigration.

The Home Secretary’s critics have condemned her for using the word ‘invasion’. ‘No responsible person should ever use language that risks inciting hostility and hate,’ says Amnesty International. The problem is that Braverman’s statement is essentially correct. When she asks MPs to ‘stop pretending they are all refugees in distress, the whole country knows that is not true’, she is not engaging in ‘far-right and inflammatory rhetoric’, as one SNP MP claimed. She is highlighting the failures of twenty years and counting of British government policy.

The number of migrants crossing the Channel is growing exponentially. In 2020, 8,404 people made the journey. In 2021, 28,526. This year, we are at 39,430 and counting.