Suella Braverman has said the UK’s asylum system is “broken” in response to criticisms of the migrant crisis.
The home secretary defended the government’s stance on illegal migration in the Commons on Monday.
She rejected accusations from a senior Tory MP that she had allowed Manston, a migrant holding centre in Kent, to get dangerously overcrowded.
She insisted that she “never ignored legal advice” on using hotels to house migrants.
Ms Braverman has been accused of failing to sign off on measures which could have eased pressure at Manston, following reports of over 4,000 migrants being housed there, despite it being meant to hold just 1,600 when it was built.
Facing questions in the Commons from Labour and Tory MPs, she said the government was “determined to address the wholly unacceptable situation which has left taxpayers with a bill of £6.8 million a day for hotel accommodation.”
She told MPs it was “practically impossible” to find more than 1,000 beds at short notice as she defended the decision to keep thousands of people at the Manston site.
“What I have refused to do is to prematurely release thousands of people into local communities without having anywhere for them to stay.”
She promised to visit the Kent site “shortly” and in response to questions over her decision-making, said: “I have never ignored legal advice, as a former attorney general I know the importance of taking legal advice into account.”
She added: “On no occasion have I blocked the procurement of hotels or alternative accommodation to ease the pressure on Manston, I’m afraid that simply isn’t true.”