Suella Braverman has today said she is serious about “stopping the invasion” on the southern coast of England, telling MPs: “Let’s stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress.”

The Home Secretary responded to questions from Labour, recounting apologies for errors that led to her resignation.

She then told the Commons: “Let’s be clear about what is really going on here: the British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast and which party is not.

“Some 40,000 people have arrived on the south coast this year alone. Many of them facilitated by criminal gangs, some of them actual members of criminal gangs.

“So let’s stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress. The whole country knows that is not true. It’s only the honourable members opposite who pretend otherwise.

“We need to be straight with the public. The system is broken. Illegal migration is out of control and too many people are interested in playing political parlour games, covering up the truth than solving the problem.”

Suella Braverman emails

This comes after Braverman today sent a letter to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Dame Diana Johnson.

In it, the Home Secretary gave a “detailed account about the circumstances” surrounding her resignation. 

Braverman previously sent official documents from her government email address to her personal account address six times but insisted there was “no risk to national security”.

A Home Office review identified the incidents after she was forced to resign for breaching the ministerial code by sending a draft government statement to an ally from her personal account.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has faced questions over his decision to reappoint Braverman just days after she quit, but Downing Street insisted he had full confidence in his Home Secretary.