Minister backs calls for migrants to 'f*** off back to France' as charities condemn language

Lee Anderson, the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, was criticised for his comments which said that if those housed on barges, which some have dubbed “floating prisons”, do not like them, then they should leave the country.

“I think people have just had enough,” he added.

Yesterday Alex Chalk, the Justice Secretary, defended the comments, as the Government unveiled its plans to imprison lawyers who frustrate ministers’ attempts to remove asylum seekers from the UK.

“Lee Anderson expresses the righteous indignation of the British people,” the cabinet minister said.

“Yes, he does it in salty terms, that’s his style, but his indignation is well placed.

“He expresses himself in his characteristically robust terms but there is a lot of sense, in my respectful view, in what Lee says.”

Labour’s Mayor of London Sadiq Khan accused the Government of stoking “division and hate” with the comments.

He said in a tweet: “Language matters. This lot have been in Government for 13 years. After their abject failure all that’s left is stoking up more division and hate. We deserve so much better.”

Freedom from Torture, a refugee charity, said: “The dehumanising and inflammatory language used by certain politicians is putting people seeking sanctuary in this country at real risk, including the survivors that Freedom from Torture treat every day.”

Yesterday the Home Secretary chaired a roundtable to launch a new “task force” aimed at targeting corrupt immigration lawyers.

Mr Chalk said the Whitehall unit, for which there is no new funding, will aim to ensure that advocates who are found to be responsible for submitting fraudulent claims are “convicted, punished and disgraced”.

The Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, accused the Government of “lawyer-bashing” with the announcement of work that is not new.

It questioned “what, if anything, the Government is announcing today” and said the necessary powers are already in place to deal with immigration advisers engaged in misconduct.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) prohibits lawyers from deceiving courts, and any act of dishonesty or lack of integrity may result in them being struck off.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, David McNeill, the director of public affairs at the Law Society accepted that improper practice sometimes occurs in the industry, but added: “It’s not in our interest to have any solicitor acting improperly or crookedly… this announcement today is something of a red herring.”

Around 20 migrants did not board the Bibby Stockholm on Monday because their transfers were cancelled after lawyers challenged the decisions.

Home Office figures released on Monday showed that the number of asylum seekers being housed in temporary hotel accommodation passed 50,000 in June this year – up by around 10,000 from December.