Ben Bradley MP recently stood up for his constituents across Mansfield and Warsop to highlight their concerns about illegal immigration and small boat crossings from safe countries during a statement from the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, in the House of Commons.
The Mansfield MP praised the Home Secretary’s “robust approach” and described it as “a matter of fairness that is hugely important to my constituents”. He highlighted the issue of young men arriving in the UK who claim to be unaccompanied children.
Mr Bradley told the Home Secretary “At that point, the local authority has to treat them as looked-after children, and as they are claiming to be 17, we have to look after them until they are 25 years old. The average cost of a looked-after child is over £100,000 a year, and I think my constituents would be horrified to learn that their council tax is being spent on that when it is intended for public services.”
He then asked the Home Secretary to “commit to looking at these rules and to making sure that these extortionate costs, which are hammering funds intended to support my constituents with public services, can be changed?” and asked her if she agreed that “it will be impossible for the public to trust that our immigration policies are properly robust and fair as long people can arrive here illegally from a safe country and stay here at the expense of UK taxpayers.”
The Home Secretary agreed with Mr Bradley and said that he “hits on a really important aspect of the problem, which is people who are coming here and claiming to be children.” She then went on to reassure him that “The claim of being a child is something we are going to clamp down on, and in the new year we will be delivering more robust age assessment procedures so that there will be less abuse of this very problem.”
The statement, which took place on Monday 31st October, was on Western Jet Foil and Manston Asylum Processing Centres. Government Ministers may make oral or written statements to Parliament. Oral statements usually address major incidents, government policies or actions.
Commenting, Ben Bradley MP said:
“I’ve said it time and time again – illegal immigration from safe countries is a matter of fairness. My constituents across Mansfield and Warsop work hard and should benefit from the system. It’s completely wrong that someone can arrive here illegally, having paid people traffickers to get them here from safe countries like Albania, or France, and receive money from hardworking taxpayers. That funding should go back into our public services and it is outrageous that money is being spent in this way.
“I’m pleased to hear the Home Secretary has committed to clamping down on incidents where young single males - who make up the majority of cases - claim to be under 18 and end up being 'looked after children' with taxpayers responsible for their welfare until they're 25, at great cost. That's easily rectified if Government want to save money, and allow Councils to focus on public services instead.”
