PRITI Patel has lashed out once again at Scottish councils over their failure to take part in an asylum scheme.
The Home Secretary was challenged over her reported plans to bring in the military to help push back asylum seekers who attempt to cross the Channel in small boats, and use third countries such as Rwanda and Ghana as offshore detention facilities.
The SNP’s shadow Home Secretary Stuart McDonald MP said Ms Patel should be ashamed of the plans, and said they were nothing but an attempt to save Boris Johnson from resignation over partygate.
It has been claimed that government ministers are lining up to announce a host of new policies this week, in what is being called ‘Operation Red Meat’, in an attempt to appease disgruntled Tory MPs and voters.
However when criticised for the new policies which are set to be announced later today, Ms Patel said she would take no lectures from an SNP MP when almost all Scottish councils did not offer dispersal accommodation for asylum seekers.
It is the third time the Home Secretary has made the criticism in the past several months.
Mr McDonald said: “What the Home Secretary should have pointed out is, unlike the endless Downing Street parties, arriving in the UK to claim asylum is not unlawful as a Court of Appeal reminded her just last month.”
He said the government’s “atrocious anti-refugee Bill” would result in “Afghans, Syrians and Uighurs arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned for up to four years” and asked: “ Why does she see relentless flouting of lockdown rules as forgivable for the Prime Minister, but seeking asylum here from Assad the Taliban or genocide as worth four years in prison?”
Ms Patel accused the SNP of deploying “political gimmicks” to “frustrate the will of the public when it comes to reforming asylum” and reiterated her commitment to “do everything possible to tackle the unscrupulous exploitation of people who cross illegally but also at the same time provide sanctuary to those that need our help and support.”
She added: “Quite frankly, when local authorities in Scotland are not even helping to assist in the accommodation of these people. I'll take no lectures from the [SNP].”
Mr McDonald said her explanation was “about as convincing as the Prime Minister’s apology” on the lockdown-busting parties held in Downing Street, and added: “ She's the first person to be sent out to the despatch box to further Operation Red Meat.
“The proposals have absolutely nothing to do with saving lives and everything to do with saving the Prime Minister's career and her own political career.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel