UK Labour Lawmaker Says Government Lost Control Of English Channel Migrant Crisis

A UK Labour Party lawmaker on Monday accused Home Minister Priti Patel of having "lost control" of the migrant crisis in the English Channel, after record numbers of asylum seekers have reportedly made the perilous crossing on small boats and dinghies again this year

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd November, 2021) A UK Labour Party lawmaker on Monday accused Home Minister Priti Patel of having "lost control" of the migrant crisis in the English Channel, after record numbers of asylum seekers have reportedly made the perilous crossing on small boats and dinghies again this year.

Labour lawmaker Nick Thomas-Symonds, who tabled an urgent parliamentary question in the House of Commons, claimed that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to appoint a cabinet minister to oversee a review of the situation supported his accusation against Patel.

"Is it the Home Secretary or is it the Cabinet Office? And isn't the fact, Mr Speaker, that another cabinet minister has had to be brought in evidence of the fact that the Home Secretary has lost control of this dangerous situation?", the opposition lawmaker asked.

Thomas-Symonds, who is Patel's counterpart in the shadow cabinet, raised the issue in Parliament following reports that more than 25,600 people - a figure that is more than triple the total for last year as a whole - have illegally crossed from France to the UK in 2021.

"The Home Secretary has repeatedly made pledges that the route across the Channel will be made unviable, but as usual with this government it is all empty rhetoric and broken promises," he added.

Patel dismissed Thomas-Symonds' statement as "complete and utter nonsense" and stressed that "the only solution is a wholesale reform of our asylum system."