LABOUR’S Emily Thornberry has attacked the Government’s new immigration plan and says the Tories “systematically broke the system” over the past 12 years.
Labour’s shadow trade secretary told GB News: “Let me just start with the gimmickry because all you have to do is look at the various things which they have claimed that they’re going to do, and it just doesn’t make sense.
“So for example, the Prime Minister has said that he’s going to double the number of people that will be making decisions, but that simply isn’t enough anyway, to be able to clear a backlog.
“He then says he’s going to clear the backlog in a year but he’s only defining the backlog as cases running up to June this year, not the cases since then.
“And he says he’s going to clear it in a year, which will mean that by the end of next year you’ll have 18 months worth of backlog.”
Speaking to Isabel Webster and Martin Daubney, she added: “The truth is that the asylum and immigration system in the UK is broken and the Conservatives have broken it over the last 12 years.
“There have always been delays but Labour would be making sure that we have people properly trained. We would never have allowed the situation to arise whereby cases are taking as long as they are, we would have made sure that there were proper decisions being made.
“We would have made sure that we kept an eye on just how bad the backlog was, we would make sure that we were making decisions in a timely way so that the British public weren’t having to pay for people to stay in hotels for over a year.
“What’s more, the people who are here claiming asylum, they’re having to stand waiting, holding their breath, waiting for their lives to start, because no decision has been made, because it has simply taken too long.”
She added: “What I’m saying is that the system has been broken over a long period of time, and it has been allowed to fall to pieces and there has not been a serious grip being taken at the switch
“Over the last 12 years, the Tories systematically broke the system.”
Asked what Labour would do if it won the next general election, Ms Thornberry said: “First of all we would be tackling the problem upstream, which would be we will be looking at how we can have a proper agreement with the French when it comes to a return of people. We would make sure that we were policing the border properly, we would also be looking upstream in terms of dealing with the criminal gangs, we will be making a real effort in relation to that.
“You have to remember that whilst the Conservatives are now talking to the French that it wasn’t very long ago that Priti Patel was banned from meetings with the French government because they had been so insulted by her behaviour.
“So a new government and a fresh start would certainly help with improving relationships with the French, and we will be able to work with them better when it comes to that. So that’s number one.
She told GB News: “Then at the other end, we will be making sure that the decisions were made in a timely way and not in the way in which the government has allowed this to fall into, the whole thing has fallen to pieces under this government.
“We would have a fresh start and we would make sure that we have people trained up. We will make sure that we have people in order to make proper decisions and get on with it.”
