‘Hurricane’ of migrants coming to UK: Home secretary

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The UK is facing a “hurricane” of mass migration, according to the country’s home secretary.

"The wind of change that carried my own parents across the globe in the 20th century was a mere gust compared to the hurricane that is coming," Suella Braverman told the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

Noting that everyone has the right to aspire to a better life, she, however, said that nobody can “deny there are far, far more people" who would like to move to the UK "than can be accommodated."

"This country has been generous in taking in refugees from Afghanistan, from Ukraine, from Syria, from Hong Kong," stated Braverman.

The British people "have been clear," that immigration is "already too high," she said.

"And they know another thing that the future could bring millions more migrants to the shores, uncontrolled and unmanageable unless the government they elect next year acts decisively to stop that happening," Braverman added.

She said that politicians were "too slow" to recognize the dimension of the issue and "unwilling" to accept that the legal framework needed to be updated.

"I can't pretend that politicians have done a great job of managing immigration for the last 30 years," she opined, adding that they were "too squeamish" to be accused of being "racist."

She also mentioned that small boat crossings to the UK are down by 20% compared to last year.

According to official data, a record 45,756 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in 2022.