- May said public wants to know what government doing about illegal immigrants
- Come after Javid promised ‘fairer, more compassionate immigration system’
- Has disowned Mrs May’s pledge to create ‘hostile’ climate for illegal immigrants
Theresa May has sparked a fresh immigration row after ruling out major changes in the wake of the Windrush scandal.
She has set herself on a collision course with new Home Secretary Sajid Javid by appearing to reject an overhaul of how migrants are treated.
The Prime Minister said the public wanted to know ‘that we are dealing with people who come to the country illegally’.
Sajid Javid has disowned Mrs May’s pledge to create a ‘hostile’ climate for illegal migrants by vowing instead to oversee a ‘compliant environment’
Her remarks come days after Mr Javid promised a ‘fairer, more compassionate immigration system’ following the Windrush controversy, during which some Caribbean migrants who have lived in the UK for decades were told they were here illegally.
He has also disowned Mrs May’s pledge to create a ‘hostile’ climate for illegal migrants by vowing instead to oversee a ‘compliant environment’.
But speaking en route to the G7 summit, the PM declined to say if changes were now needed to reform the system.
Mrs May, Home Secretary from 2010 until 2016, stressed that people living in the UK lawfully should not be caught up in illegal immigration controls as some of the Windrush generation were.
But she added: ‘If you talk to members of the public, what they want to know is that we are dealing with people who come to the country illegally.’
The Prime Minister said the public wants to know ‘we are dealing with people who come to the country illegally’
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