Minister says ‘bit of a cheek’ for asylum-seekers to complain about conditions

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A Home Office minister has said it is “a bit of a cheek” for people who he said had “entered the UK illegally” to complain about conditions, amid growing pressure on the government to fix the situation at a centre for asylum seekers in Kent.

The Manston short-term holding facility, which is designed to hold no more than 1,600 asylum-seekers for no longer than 24 hours, has descended into chaos in the last month as the number of people held there has swelled to more than 4,000 with reports of some staying as long as four weeks.

Harrowing images have shown people reaching out through packed barricades, sleeping on floor mats and cold and hungry children sharing blankets.

On Times Radio on Friday, Chris Philp, a former immigration minister who was handed the policing brief in the most recent cabinet reshuffle, said: “If people choose to enter a country illegally, and unnecessarily, it is a bit, you know, it’s a bit of a cheek to then start complaining about the conditions when you’ve illegally entered a country without necessity …

“They don’t even have to come here, they were in France already and previously often passed through Belgium, Germany, and many other countries on the way.”

Philp also insisted asylum-seekers from the Manston centre who were left stranded in London earlier this week had told immigration officials they had addresses to go to.

He said there had been a “misunderstanding” that had led to people arriving in London from Manston without accommodation or warm clothing, resulting in them sleeping rough.

He insisted the Manston site was now legally compliant, despite his comments coming two days after the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, suggested Manson was not legally compliant.

A group of 11 asylum seekers from Manston were left at Victoria railway station on Tuesday evening with nowhere to stay, without winter coats and many of them in flip-flops, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Philp told Sky News: “There are two groups of people and what I’ve been told by the people on the immigration side of the Home Office is that both groups of people told immigration officials at Manston they had addresses to go to, so friends and family. Obviously, that turned out subsequently not to be the case.

“Clearly that understanding was not accurate; quite how that misunderstanding arose – maybe it was lost in translation – I don’t know, but clearly they have now all been looked after.”

The Westminster city council Labour leader, Adam Hug, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he believed the 11 people who arrived at Victoria had slept rough overnight, adding: “Clearly there has been a breakdown in communication”.

Hug said the “chaos” of the situation means local services and charities were “having to pick up the slack”.

Other council leaders have criticised the government’s approach to Manston. Stephen Evans, the chief executive of Norwich council, said the Home Office did not give its officials any warning that migrants from Manston were being bussed into the city on Thursday.

Speaking to Today, Evans said he first read about the group coming to Norwich in a news article.

“We hadn’t been told. I checked back with colleagues at city hall – they hadn’t been told. So we don’t know who they are and we don’t know where they’ve gone to in the city,” he said.

“I think that’s part of the problem here. As a sector, councils are asking for early engagement from the Home Office and for us to be consulted.”