THE High Court recently ruled that the Home Office’s decision to house asylum seekers in a “squalid” former military barracks in Folkestone was unlawful.
Public health experts had raised concerns about the use of the site during the coronavirus crisis, as nearly 200 people contracted Covid at the camp during an outbreak.
The judgement found the accommodation failed to meet a "minimum standard".
Lawyers say Napier Barracks should close, but the Home Office said it would continue to use them and will consider its next steps.
READ MORE: Priti Patel told to resign by SNP after Napier Barracks ruling
Today at Westminster an urgent question on the use of facility was asked, before MPs gave their views.
These were the worst comments from Tory MPs on the use of the camp as asylum seeker accommodation.
1) Peter Bone, Tory MP for Wellingborough
“The problem isn’t Napier Barracks, it’s the problem of people crossing the Channel illegally from France.
“Isn’t a simple solution that when these people arrive in England, we put them on a Royal Navy boat, take them back to France because France is a safe country and that is where asylum should be claimed – and if we did it, it’d stop the problem.”
2) Marco Longhi, Tory MP for Dudley North
Longhi said professors had given evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee about how buildings “could be something akin to aggressive or threatening”, adding in apparent jokey comments: “So I think the illegal immigrants at Napier may have acted perhaps in self-defence when trashing and torching the barracks.
“We should all be aware of their vulnerabilities and sensibilities. So will the minister agree to perhaps send a delegation from the equalities committee to assess this building aggression – particularly (Conservative MP Lee Anderson), whose sensibilities make him ideally suited to the job.”
3) Scott Benton, Tory MP for Blackpool South
Benton said his constituents were “appalled” by the High Court judgment, adding: “Many of them have been questioning why accommodation previously fit for our brave troops is somehow inadequate for those supposedly fleeing persecution around the globe. Some have asked if the accommodation is so bad, why so many people want to remain in the UK at all.”
He touched on planned reforms, adding: “We now need to look at processing asylum seekers outside of the UK.”
4) Lee Anderson, Tory MP for Ashfield
“After five years living in a back of a lorry fighting for king and country during the Second World War, my grandad Charlie returned to these shores to live in poor housing with no heating, no hot water and he made do with an outside toilet and no access to free yoga lessons.
“He then went to work for 40 years down the pit and not once did he ever complain about his life. So does the minister agree with me that if illegal immigrants entering this country do not like the housing – which has much better facilities than my grandad’s day – then one solution would be to return to France, taking the lefty lawyers and opposition with them?”
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