Saturday, August 12, 2023
A tragi-comedy of errors
If it wasn't so tragic, the recent developments in the Tory grand plan to deal with asylum seekers would be funny, though only in an ironic way.
The Guardian reports that the culmination of Rishi Sunak’s “small boats week”, which was supposed to announce new hardline policies to reduce the number of asylum seekers attempting to enter the UK, saw Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, under pressure to abandon plans to house asylum seekers on a barge, after 39 people had to be removed from the vessel after the discovery of potentially deadly bacteria in the water system:
Home Office sources said tests for legionella were carried out on 25 July. Lower level traces were identified on Monday as the first asylum seekers were taken on to the barge. It is understood a contractor, Landry and Kling, was told about the concerns.
The Home Office first learned about the early traces on Wednesday, resulting in further tests on Thursday, sources said.
The Home Office still sent another six people on to the barge on Thursday, sources confirmed, but after taking advice from the UK Health Security Agency, these people were taken off that evening, and everyone else was removed on Friday.
But that is not all.
The Guardian reports that the culmination of Rishi Sunak’s “small boats week”, which was supposed to announce new hardline policies to reduce the number of asylum seekers attempting to enter the UK, saw Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, under pressure to abandon plans to house asylum seekers on a barge, after 39 people had to be removed from the vessel after the discovery of potentially deadly bacteria in the water system:
Home Office sources said tests for legionella were carried out on 25 July. Lower level traces were identified on Monday as the first asylum seekers were taken on to the barge. It is understood a contractor, Landry and Kling, was told about the concerns.
The Home Office first learned about the early traces on Wednesday, resulting in further tests on Thursday, sources said.
The Home Office still sent another six people on to the barge on Thursday, sources confirmed, but after taking advice from the UK Health Security Agency, these people were taken off that evening, and everyone else was removed on Friday.
But that is not all.
The paper says that on Monday, the government dropped plans to send migrants 4,000 miles away to Ascension Island just hours after it was announced. The Conservative deputy chair, Lee Anderson, provoked outrage when he told asylum seekers to “fuck off back to France”, before later admitting the government had “failed” to tackle illegal immigration. A £400,000 Home Office drone used to monitor boats in the Channel crashed into the sea. And on Thursday, 755 asylum seekers were recorded crossing the Channel, the highest number in a single day.
Sunak and his team would not look out of place in Dad's Army. 'Don't panic, Mr Sunak'. They don't like it up 'em.
Sunak and his team would not look out of place in Dad's Army. 'Don't panic, Mr Sunak'. They don't like it up 'em.
