Priti Patel admits there are no safe and legal routes for asylum seekers crossing the Channel

In the Home Affairs Committee session on Wednesday, the home secretary was questioned by Conservative MP Tim Loughton, who repeatedly asked which safe and legal routes are offered to asylum seekers crossing the Channel from countries other than Syria and Afghanistan.

The home secretary said new safe and legal routes were being created but admitted: “We don’t currently have those routes in place.”

“For economic migrants they don’t need safe and legal routes because they should be claiming asylum in many of the other countries they’re travelling through,” Ms Patel said.

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