Status: 03.11.2022 3:20 p.m
Suella Braverman is a proven hardliner when it comes to migration, and British Prime Minister Sunak wanted to unite the Tories with her appointment as Home Secretary. Now she polemicizes and splits as best she can.
A heated debate on the government’s asylum policy took place in the House of Commons earlier in the week. In the exchange of blows, Suella Braverman made it clear how she assesses the situation on the English Channel, where thousands of refugees have arrived in rubber boats from France this year: The British people have the right to know which party is serious about the “invasion ” to stop on the south coast, said the interior minister.
The term “invasion” is defined as the advancing of hostile military units into foreign territory. This sentence, which says so much about the new interior minister, was not a slip: Braverman sees it that way – despite clear criticism from his own party, no apology followed.
Braverman polemicized
Braverman is on the right wing of the Conservatives. Born in 1980, she is the daughter of Indian immigrants who came to England in the 1960s. The former Attorney General has been an MP since 2015. In 2017 and 2018 she was chair of the European Research Group (ERG) – a loose coalition of right-wing politicians within the Conservative faction who want to implement Brexit and have pushed the party ever further to the right.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak deliberately appointed her interior minister in order to involve the right wing of the party. After the massive disputes in the party, it was his plan to put together a cabinet that would unite the conservatives. It remains to be seen whether this will succeed with the new Minister of the Interior.
Braverman polemicizes, polarizes. In a debate, she blamed a “coalition of chaos” for the fact that road traffic was obstructed because protesters were stuck. It’s Labour, the Liberal Democrats, the tofu-eating, woken North London Guardian readers to thank. The personnel that should unite the party divides the country.
“She’s a disaster – get her out!” reads a protest poster against Suella Braverman in front of the British Parliament.
Image: picture alliance / ZUMAPRESS.com
Criticized several times
Braverman wants to reduce the number of refugees, which Brexit supporters have repeatedly promised but have not been able to implement. Great Britain is the scene of a global migration crisis, they have been rumoring for years. Braverman said in the House of Commons that around 40,000 people had come to southern England in boats this year. In a European comparison, that’s not much.
What is lost in all the populist rhetoric is that Braverman has no idea how to reduce that number either. She hopes that the deportation flights to Rwanda will deter refugees from coming to Great Britain. These flights are suspended for legal reasons.
Braverman has now come under criticism for the unsustainable conditions in the accommodations in Kent for refugees who have arrived: the facilities are overcrowded and the authorities are reporting outbreaks of disease. The opposition accuses the interior minister of deliberately not booking any hotels or other accommodation. In addition, the state authorities would need an extremely long time to process the asylum applications.