Priti Patel refuses to admit Channel crossings by asylum seekers are not illegal

Priti Patel has falsely told MPs that most migrants crossing the English Channel are not asylum seekers, after the Home Office’s own most recent asylum statistics, released in November, said “almost all” are.

In a combative session of the Home Affairs Committee on Wednesday, the home secretary said: “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.”

“The majority of them are people that are not claiming asylum or fleeing persecution.” Ms Patel said.

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