Premier, opposition leader spar over UK's 'broken' asylum system

By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal

LONDON (AA) – Debate over the UK’s “broken” asylum system continued Wednesday as the prime minister and the opposition leader found themselves in a heated argument.

In a weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session at the House of Commons, Labour leader Keir Starmer questioned who “broke” the asylum system, referring to Monday remarks by embattled Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said his party “delivered Brexit” and “ended the free movement of people.”

Starmer said the opposition won’t open borders but the Tories “lost control of the border.”

“For four prime ministers in five years, it's the same old same old,” Starmer said, pouring scorn on the Conservatives who “have been in power for 12 years.”

Sunak, in defense, said Starmer “voted against the nationality and borders.”

“He said he would scrap the Rwanda partnership, he opposed the ending of free movement of people,” Sunak said, referring to a controversial proposal to send people seeking asylum in Britain to the small African nation of Rwanda.

Sunak said: “Border control is a serious, complex issue that not only does the party opposite not have a plan, they have opposed every single measure we have taken to solve the problem. You can't attack a plan if you don't have a plan.”

But the Labour leader shot back that they “voted against it because we said it wouldn't work and it hasn't worked.”

“He says he's getting a grip, he's got a plan. So let's have a look at that plan,” Starmer said..

He said: “The Rwanda deal was launched in April. It cost the taxpayer £140 million ($161 million) and rising. The number of people deported to Rwanda is zero. Since then, 30,000 people crossed the channel in small boats. It's not working is it hasn't got a grip.”

Sunak responded that they were clear.

He said: “We want to defend our borders.”

Sunak also said the number of asylums processed is “not enough” and they will fix this, adding that as of next March they will have 500 more officers to deal with the asylums.

Responding to Sunak’s “not enough” comment, Starmer said: “You could say that again.”

“It's 4% of people arriving in small boats last year had their asylum claim processed,” he said, criticizing Braverman.

“According to the bookies, the home secretary has a better chance to become the next Tory leader, but she has a processing and asylum claim in a year.”

“They're only taking half the number of asylum decisions that they used to, that's why the system is broken,” he said.

- Broken system

Braverman’s remarks came on Monday speaking on the petrol bomb attack on a center where asylum seekers are housed as their claims are processed in Dover.

The incident on Sunday left two people with minor injuries, and the attacker was later found dead, Braverman told lawmakers.

She later spoke on the latest situation of Channel crossings.

“Let’s be clear about what is really going on here: the British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast and which party is not,” she said.

Braverman added: “Let’s stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress. The whole country knows that is not true … We need to be straight with the public. The system is broken. Illegal migration is out of control and too many people are interested in playing political parlor games, covering up the truth, than solving the problem.”