The government’s minister said yesterday: if these people were not crossing the Channel illegally, the situation would not have occurred. This ignores the cuts in staffing, the impact of privatisation and the general collpase of the immigration processing system. Rather than addressing these issues and the complete lack of legal routes, the Minister just ignored my question and showed no remorse or sense of shame.

The Minister said that the speed at which Manston was emptied was unfortunate—but of course that was not the problem, was it? The problem was the speed at which Manston was crowded, and for how long those people were held like that. Has the Minister in his department seen any embarrassment or even shame at these events?

Lord Murray of Blidworth replied for HMG:

I agree with the noble Baroness that the reason these problems arose was the speed with which people were crossing the Channel illegally: that gave rise to the condition. The noble Baroness may shake her head, but the reality is that, if these people were not crossing the Channel illegally, the situation would not have occurred.

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