Lee Anderson branded ‘pound shop Powell’ for ‘f*** off back to France’ remark

Lee Anderson has been branded a “pound shop Enoch Powell” for telling asylum seekers who don’t want to be housed in a barge to “f*** off back to France”, however has refused to apologise.

The deputy Tory chairman was accused of “stoking hate” along with his incendiary feedback, made after a gaggle of 20 migrants had been granted a last-minute reprieve as the primary group boarded the Bibby Stockholm barge in Dorset.

No 10 defended his remark, nevertheless, pointing to feedback by justice secretary Alex Chalk who instructed on Tuesday morning that Mr Anderson’s anger was “well placed” and echoed “the righteous indignation of the British people”.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick additionally defended Mr Anderson on Wednesday, saying the senior Tory had been “expressing the deep frustration of the British public”.

Among the widespread condemnation, Chris McEleny, basic secretary of Alex Salmond’s pro-independence Alba Party referred to as Mr Anderson a “village fool” and attacked “the broken politics of pound shop Enoch Powells”.

But Mr Anderson doubled down in an interview. Asked by fellow GB News host Nigel Farage whether or not he felt his remark was “perhaps bad taste”, Mr Anderson stated: “No … it’s borne out of frustration. It’s borne out of me being absolutely furious.”

“The nerve of it, Nigel,” the deputy Tory chair stated. “I’ve been to Calais, I’ve seen these migrants living in one-man tents, living in absolute squalor. Then they get here, we do our best, we bend over backwards to put them in decent accommodation, and all of a sudden they get a choice.”

Pointing to “grafters” within the oil business who reside on barges who “never complain once”, Mr Anderson continued: “It makes me sick to the pit of my stomach when these lefty lawyers, the charities, the human rights campaigners, say it’s not good enough.”

He added: “Like I say: if it’s not good enough, then they should go back to France, in stronger words.”

However, Mr Anderson appeared to criticise No 10, saying there was “no doubt about it” that Rishi Sunak’s authorities “have failed” in successfully “stopping the boats” – one of many PM’s 5 key pledges.

Labour’s London mayor Sadiq Khan accused the federal government of stoking “division and hate”, whereas Liberal Democrats dwelling affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael stated Mr Chalk’s defence of Mr Anderson was “toe-curling”.

Freedom from Torture, a refugee charity, stated the “dehumanising and inflammatory” language places folks in search of sanctuary within the UK at “real risk”.

Georgie Laming of the at Hope not Hate group stated it was “morally reprehensible” for the highest Tory cupboard minister to have defended Mr Anderson’s inflammatory remarks. “The Conservative party is rapidly adopting dangerous and divisive tactics,” she stated.

Natasha Tsangarides, affiliate director of advocacy for the organisation, stated: “Time and time again, we’re seeing government ministers amping up the cruelty of their anti-refugee rhetoric to distract from their own catastrophic mismanagement of both the asylum system and of this country.”

Asylum seekers who refuse to transfer onto the federal government’s new asylum barge are being threatened with eviction and potential homelessness, as resistance hampers ministers’ ambitions to pack 500 folks on board.

Mr Jenrick stated on Wednesday {that a} “significant” variety of asylum seekers who had objected to shifting to barge have since modified their minds, as he warned there was not an “a la carte menu” of lodging decisions.

“A significant number moved yesterday, I suspect more will move in the coming days,” he advised Times Radio. “I think this issue will be resolved.”

Mr Jenrick added: “We are a generous country … but it is not an a la carte menu from which people can choose the particular hotel or location that suits them best. If you are destitute, then you will accept the decent accommodation the state is able to provide for you.”

The immigration minister additionally stated he was unable to disclose how a lot cash the UK had given Turkey as a part of a deal to assist crack down on illegal migration.

Britain and Turkey have struck a brand new deal to deal with the surge in unlawful migration, which is able to concentrate on co-ordinated actions to “disrupt and dismantle people smuggling gangs”.

Central to the partnership is the institution of a brand new operational “centre of excellence” by the Turkish National Police.

Home Office figures launched on Monday confirmed that the variety of asylum seekers being housed in non permanent lodge lodging handed 50,000 in June this yr – up by round 10,000 from December.

Campaigners, specialists and Conservative MPs have repeatedly urged the goverment to open extra protected and authorized routes after criminalising small boat crossings – with such routes solely open to sure folks in a handful of areas, together with Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong.