Tag: Braverman

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Braverman mulls cut to post-study student visa stay

The new Graduate Visa route, which allows foreign graduates the chance to stay on to job hunt and gain work experience may be hit…reports Asian Lite News

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is said to be on a collision course with the country’s education department over plans to cut the period of stay allowed for overseas students under a post-study visa route.

The new Graduate Visa route, which allows foreign graduates – including Indians – the chance to stay on to job hunt and gain work experience for up to two years without the requirement of a specific job offer, is expected to be cut under Braverman’s proposed review.

The home secretary has drawn up a plan to “reform” the Graduate Visa route requiring students to obtain a work visa by getting a skilled job or leave the UK after six months. The newspaper refers to leaked advice to say that the UK Department for Education (DfE) is attempting to block the changes as they fear it would harm the UK’s attractiveness to international students.

A government source who backs Braverman’s plan said the Graduate Visa was being increasingly used by students on short courses at “less respectable universities”.

“It’s being used as a backdoor immigration route,” a source told The Times.

The DfE, however, argues that the two-year Graduate Visa, often referred to as the UK’s post-study offer, was aligned with most of Britain’s main competitors, with only the US offering a one-year visa.

According to the latest statistics by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Indians overtook the Chinese as the largest cohort of foreign students last year and the new Graduate Visa route, introduced in July 2021, was dominated by Indians – accounting for 41 per cent of the visas granted.

Braverman’s proposal is reportedly among several drawn up after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asked the Home Office and the DfE to submit proposals for reducing the number of foreign students coming to the UK. Figures published last week showed there were 680,000 foreign students in the UK. The government’s 2019 Higher Education Strategy included a target of 600,000 students by 2030, which was met last year itself.

Another proposal being considered would reportedly allow foreign students to bring dependent family members with them only if they were on postgraduate research-based courses such as a PhD, or postgraduate courses that were at least two years long.

The Home Office refused to comment on the leak, but a government spokesperson said: “Our points-based system is designed to be flexible according to the UK’s needs, including attracting top-class talent from across the world to contribute to the UK’s excellent academic reputation and to help keep our universities competitive on the world stage.

“We keep all our immigration policies under constant review to ensure they best serve the country and reflect the public’s priorities.”

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Braverman vows action after ‘terrible tragedy’ of migrant deaths

Earlier, Sunak opened his weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) by expressing his “sorrow” at the capsizing of a small boat and the tragic loss of human life…reports Asian Lite News

Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Wednesday pledged to work hard to destroy the business model of “people smugglers” after the deaths of four migrants attempting to cross the English Channel to reach the UK border illegally in a small boat.

As a major search and rescue operation was mounted, the Indian-origin home minister issued a statement in the House of Commons to update Parliament on the incident.

Around 43 migrants have been rescued alive in the operation that began in the early hours of Wednesday after their small boat capsized amid freezing temperatures.

“There is a multi-agency response to this terrible tragedy,” Braverman told MPs.

“These are the days that we dread. Crossing the Channel in unseaworthy vessels is a lethally dangerous endeavour. It is for this reason above all that we are working so hard to destroy the business model of the people smugglers, evil, organised criminals who treat human beings as cargo,” she said.

The minister referred to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement to Parliament on Tuesday that a new permanent, unified small boats operational command will be formed to bring together military and civilian capabilities and the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).

Braverman said the latest incident shows why new legislation, to be introduced next year, is needed which will make it “clear that if someone comes to the UK illegally, they should not be able to remain here” and will be “detained and swiftly returned to either their home country or to a safe country where their claim for asylum will be considered”.

“Late or spurious claims and appeals will not be possible, and once someone has been removed they will have no right to re-entry, settlement or citizenship,” she told Parliament.

Earlier, Sunak opened his weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) by expressing his “sorrow” at the capsizing of a small boat and the tragic loss of human life.

“Our hearts go out to all those affected and our tributes to those involved in the extensive rescue operation,” the British Indian leader said.

Opposition Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer added: “Our prayers go out to those who capsized in freezing waters of the Channel last night.

“It’s a reminder that the criminal gangs running those routes put the lives of the desperate at risk and profit from their misery. They must be broken up and brought to justice.” Thousands of people make dangerous journeys from various European countries and further afield in small boats and dinghies in an attempt to cross into the UK illegally and claim asylum.

The issue has been identified by the Sunak-led government as a priority, with a boost in border staff members to process claims speedily among the key plans unveiled this week.

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Braverman inks pact with France to tackle illegal migration

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also flagged the issue as an “absolute priority” and said he was “confident we can bring the numbers down”…reports Asian Lite News

Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Monday signed a new agreement with neighbouring France, which will see enhanced French patrols to curb the rising number of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel into England in dangerous small boats.

The minister is in France to finalise the new arrangement, which will also see specialist UK officers embedded with their French counterparts for the first time as part of the new financial agreement.

The UK’s annual payment to France to help police the border is set to rise to Euro 72 million in 2022-23 from Euro 62.7 million for 2021-22.

Under the new UK-France joint agreement, the number of officers patrolling the French coast at Calais to stop people setting off to the English coast at Dover will rise from 200 to 300.

“There are no quick fixes, but this new arrangement will mean we can significantly increase the number of French gendarmes patrolling the beaches in northern France and ensure UK and French officers are working hand in hand to stop the people smugglers,” Braverman said.

“We must do everything we can to stop people making these dangerous journeys and crack down on the criminal gangs. This is a global challenge requiring global solutions, and it is in the interests of both the UK and French governments to work together to solve this complex problem,” she said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also flagged the issue as an “absolute priority” and said he was “confident we can bring the numbers down”.

“I do think that the absolute priority that British people have right now, as do I, is to grip illegal migration,” Sunak told reporters en route to Indonesia for the G20 summit as the agreement was announced in London.

According to official estimates, more than 40,000 people have crossed in small boats so far this year, up from 28,526 last year and 8,404 the year before.

The new deal with France includes a 40 per cent increase in the number of UK-funded officers patrolling French beaches, to come on stream in the coming months.

The Home Office said the pact is aimed at enhanced information sharing, improved understanding of the threat, and ensuring UK expertise is at the heart of efforts to disrupt crossings and clamp down on people smugglers.

This more “integrated approach” will also include strengthened operational cooperation, including joint UK-France analysis teams supporting the coordination and exchange of information by French-command headquarters.

The Home Office noted: “Joint working between UK and French officers so far has secured more than 140 convictions connected to people smuggling since the start of 2020, and these criminals now face a combined 400 years behind bars.

“The UK-France Joint Intelligence Cell, which has so far dismantled 55 organised crime groups and secured over 500 arrests since its inception in 2020, will also be expanded.”

The latest multi-year arrangement is expected to bolster security at ports to help clamp down on illegal entry by funding investment in cutting edge surveillance technology, drones, detection dog teams, CCTV and helicopters to help detect and prevent crossings.

It will also go towards supporting reception and removal centres in France for migrants whose journeys to the UK are prevented, to further deter crossing attempts.

A new task force will also be set up, focused on reversing the recent rise in Albanian nationals and organised crime groups exploiting illegal migration routes into Western Europe and the UK.

“This enhanced approach will boost joint British and French collaboration, which has already prevented over 30,000 illegal crossing attempts since the start of the year more than 50 per cent more than at the same stage last year,” the Home Office said.

“The renewed partnership marks the next step in joint efforts to reduce these dangerous crossings and paves the way for deeper cooperation between the two countries in future, looking ahead to next year’s UK-France leaders’ summit,” it added.

Braverman is to travel to Frankfurt in Germany later this week, where she will meet her international counterparts from the G7 to discuss a range of priority issues including tackling serious organised crime.

Her office said that she also plans to meet with neighbouring countries as soon as possible as part of the UK’s ongoing cooperation with European partners to drive progress on the issue of illegal migration.

“The UK’s work with international partners is a key part of the government’s wide ranging approach to fix the broken asylum system, break the business model of people smugglers facilitating these journeys and clamp down on illegal migration,” the Home Office said.

As part of measures, the Nationality and Borders Act will introduce life sentences for people smugglers and increase the maximum penalty for entering the UK illegally.

The Home Office also hailed the government’s controversial “world leading partnership with Rwanda”, which will see some illegal migrants relocated there to have their claims considered in the African country.

ALSO READ-Indian envoy holds talks with Braverman

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Indian envoy holds talks with Braverman

The meeting follows Braverman’s controversial remarks last month that referenced the India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership as not working very well in tackling illegal immigration and visa overstayers from India…reports Asian Lite News

Cooperation on migration and security issues was on the agenda at a meeting between UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Indian High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami in London.

The envoy called on the Indian-origin Cabinet minister on Tuesday to discuss the India-UK security partnership and to “make progress” under the India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership (MMP).

The meeting follows Braverman’s controversial remarks last month that referenced the MMP as not working very well in tackling illegal immigration and visa overstayers from India.

“High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami called on HE Home Secretary Suella Braverman today to discuss India-UK security cooperation, and to make progress under the India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement,” the Indian High Commission in London tweeted after the meeting.

Braverman in turn referenced the “strong partnership” shared between India and the UK.

“I look forward to working with our friends on mutually shared interests including security and migration,” she tweeted after the meeting.

It is seen as a conciliatory move after the Indian mission had countered the Home Secretary’s allegations that the agreement with the Indian government to encourage and facilitate better cooperation on illegal migration “has not necessarily worked very well”.

“As per data shared with the Home Office, as on date, action has been initiated on all of the cases referred to the High Commission. Further, the UK has also undertaken to fulfill certain commitments as part of the Migration and Mobility Protocol, on which we await demonstrable progress,” the High Commission of India said in a statement last month.

It is a widely held view that Braverman, then Home Secretary in the former prime minister Liz Truss led Cabinet, had derailed the ongoing India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations from its Diwali timeline by expressing “concerns” over what she feared would be an “open borders” policy for Indians.

“Look at migration in this country – the largest group of people who overstay are Indian migrants,” she said at the time.

On Wednesday, the recently launched India (Trade and Investment) All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) held its inaugural meeting in the Houses of Parliament complex where UK Trade Minister Greg Hands reiterated that the FTA negotiations remain ongoing.

“India is projected to be the world’s third largest economy by 2050 – offering major opportunities for UK firms,” Hands tweeted after the meeting.

The new cross-party UK parliamentary panel was created in July to promote trade, investment and people-to-people ties with India, backed up by British Indian think tank 1928 Institute.

The Co-Chairs of the APPG, Labour MP Navendu Mishra and Lord Karan Bilimoria, as well as APPG President Baroness Sandy Verma were among those present at the meeting, also attended by the Indian High Commissioner to the UK who spoke about the scope of bilateral cooperation in sunrise sectors such green economy and FinTech.

Sunak committed to FTA with India

Intensive negotiations continue towards a free trade agreement (FTA) between India and the UK and new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is committed to achieving a balanced deal, Downing Street said on Wednesday.

Sunak, who took charge at 10 Downing Street last week, had a “very warm” introductory call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during which both sides expressed their commitment towards an FTA.

The UK Prime Minister’s office also reiterated that the focus remains on a balanced trade deal that benefits both sides and therefore no timeframe is being specified after a proposed Diwali timeline had to be abandoned last month amid political turmoil in the UK.

“Both sides are very committed to it, intensive negotiations are continuing led by the Department for International Trade (DIT),” a spokesperson told reporters at a Downing Street briefing.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking on the phone to Prime Minister Modi of India (Picture Credits: Twitter)

“The Prime Minister had a very warm, introductory call with Prime Minister Modi last week. In terms of the speed of it [FTA], we have been very clear that we won’t sacrifice quality to achieve speed. We will sign when we have a balanced deal that represents both of our interests but both sides remain committed,” the spokesperson said.

In his first phone call after taking charge as Prime Minister last week, Sunak had referenced “good progress” being made to finalise the FTA.

“The Prime Minister hoped the UK and India could continue to make good progress in negotiations to finalise a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement,” a Downing Street readout of the call said.

The two leaders are expected to meet in person at the G20 Summit in Indonesia later this month, unless they meet at the COP27 Summit in Egypt where the UK Prime Minister has confirmed attendance of the Leader’s Day but Modi’s visit is as yet unconfirmed.

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Braverman calls migrant crisis an ‘invasion’, faces heat

Manston, a former military base in Kent, opened as a processing centre in February this year, for the growing number of migrants reaching the UK in small boats…reports Asian Lite News

Indian-origin Suella Braverman, already under fire over her re-appointment as the UK Home Secretary, has sparked off another outrage by comparing migrant crisis in the country to “invasion”.

Braverman, who was forced to resign from her position under former Prime Minister Liz Truss for breaching the ministerial code of conduct, said on Monday that migrants have launched an “invasion on our southern coast”.

“Let’s stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress,” she said while responding to questions in the House of Commons amid concerns about conditions at the Manston processing site in Kent.

Manston, a former military base in Kent, opened as a processing centre in February this year, for the growing number of migrants reaching the UK in small boats.

Addressing the MPs for the first time since her re-appointment last week, the Home Secretary said some 40,000 people have arrived on the south coast in 2022 with many of them members of criminal gangs.

“Disgusted to hear Suella Braverman say there’s an ‘invasion on our southern coast’. Language like this whips up hate and spreads division,” the Daily Mirror quoted Labour MP Zarah Sultana as saying.

“For Suella Braverman to use language like ‘invasion’, to describe refugees. people who are themselves escaping conflict. is offensive. They know what being invaded feels like. We are lucky that most of us do not,” Clare Moseley, from refugee charity Care4Calais, told The Evening Standard.

Braverman, who admitted to using her personal email six times for official documents, made the remarks days after fellow Indian-origin Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that “compassion” would be at the heart of his administration.

“Rishi Sunak pledged to bring integrity, professionalism and accountability as Prime Minister. Instead, he brought back Suella Braverman,” local media reports quoted Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour Party, as saying.

After questions on asylum centres being overcrowded, disease-ridden and dangerous, Braverman admitted that “the system is broken” and “Illegal migration is out of control”.

She also denied blocking the use of hotels for asylum seekers, which put pressure on the Manston processing centre designed for 1,600 people

“Indeed since I took over 12,000 people have arrived, 9,500 people have been transferred out of Manston or Western Jet Foil, many of them into hotels,” Braverman said.

Home secretary struggles to cling on

Suella Braverman is under fresh pressure over the Channel migrant crisis and security breaches on Monfay – with a Tory MP swiping that chaos in Kent might have been caused ‘deliberately’ by the ministers, a media report said.

The UK Home Secretary is also facing demands to come to the Commons to explain using her personal email to send sensitive government information to a backbench ally, Daily Mail reported.

Meanwhile, she is in the spotlight over conditions at the Manston migrant processing centre, after reports of overcrowding and outbreaks of disease.

Veteran MP Roger Gale, who represents North Thanet, suggested the Home Office actively decided not to book more hotel space to stop arrivals staying at the reception centre too long.

There are claims that officials are now looking at booking individual rooms for migrants to ease the pressure, rather than blocking out entire hotels, Daily Mail reported.

Others MPs have criticised France for failing to stop small boats attempting the crossing, while an ex-borders chief suggested mooring a cruise ship in the middle of the Channel where people can be accommodated.

Concern has been growing over the conditions of migrants being held in while waiting to be processed once they arrive in the UK, and after one of the sites in Dover was firebombed over the weekend.

So far this year, close to 40,000 people have made the treacherous journey from France, crossing the world’s busiest shipping lanes in dinghies and other small boats, provisional government figures show.

Gale said he believes it was a decision taken by the Home Secretary, but is not sure whether it was Priti Patel or Suella Braverman.

Sources close to Patel distanced themselves from the problems, arguing that overcrowding was not as bad before.

“Priti was signing off hotels in the summer – despite how unpalatable it was politically – because it’s the right thing to do,’ one source said, Daily Mail reported.

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Ex-Tory chair slams Braverman

Jake Berry, who sat in the cabinet alongside Braverman at the heart of Liz Truss’s government, said she was responsible for a “really serious breach”..reports Asian Lite News

Rishi Sunak’s decision to reappoint Suella Braverman six days after she was forced to resign for a security breach is facing fresh questions after a former chairman of the Conservative party claimed the home secretary was responsible for “multiple breaches of the ministerial code”.

Jake Berry, who sat in the cabinet alongside Braverman at the heart of Liz Truss’s government, said she was responsible for a “really serious breach” after sending confidential information to a private address, sending it to an MP, attempting to send it to the MP’s wife and then accidentally sending it to a member of parliamentary staff.

He also indicated that the UK’s most senior civil servant, Simon Case, had been consulted and ruled that it had broken the rules.

Sunak told MPs on Wednesday that Braverman had made an “error of judgment” and had recognised her mistake, adding: “That’s why I was delighted to welcome her back into a united cabinet that brings experience and stability to the heart of government.”

Asked during prime minister’s questions if officials had raised concerns about the appointment– given Case was said to have been furious – Sunak simply said he had already “addressed the issue”.

Speaking to Piers Morgan Uncensored on Wednesday night, Berry said there had been “multiple breaches of the ministerial code” after Braverman had sent the document to her confidante and fellow MP Sir John Hayes.

“It was sent from a private email address to another member of parliament,” he told TalkTV’s Kate McCann. “She then sought to copy in that individual’s wife and accidentally sent it to a staffer in parliament. To me, that seems a really serious breach, especially when it was documents relating to cyber security, as I believe. That seems a really serious breach.

“The cabinet secretary had his say at the time, I doubt he changed his mind in the last six days but that is a matter for the new prime minister.”

The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said Berry’s intervention was “extraordinary” and “very serious”, and highlighted Berry’s comments about “cybersecurity breaches”.

Tweeting at the prime minister, she wrote: “What security warnings did you ignore when you reappointed home secretary?”

Braverman’s short time at the Home Office was marked by a hardline approach to a multitude of issues, including proposing to ban people entering the UK via small boats from claiming asylum.

It emerged on Wednesday that more than 38,000 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in more than 900 boats in 2022 to date, compared with 28,526 last year.

The clandestine Channel threat commander, Dan O’Mahoney, told the Commons home affairs committee during the hearing that in 2021 the interception rate for French police stopping people trying to cross the Channel was 50%, but this year it has dropped to 42.5%.

He accepted this was a lower percentage but stressed it was a “much, much bigger number”, telling how French authorities had stopped 28,000 migrants crossing the Channel and intercepted and destroyed 1,072 boats so far this year.

The disclosure comes after Labour and the Liberal Democrats called for a Cabinet Office inquiry into national security concerns after Braverman was reinstated. No 10 refused to deny officials advised against reappointing her to a great office of state.

Cooper wrote to Case demanding an investigation , a request echoed by the Lib Dems’ home affairs spokesperson, Alistair Carmichael.

The head of the FDA senior civil servants’ union, Dave Penman, told the Guardian the reappointment was a clear example of “double standards” given that his members would face severe punishments for similar behaviour.

“If a civil servant had acted in the way that Suella Braverman was alleged to, using private email accounts to send confidential government business to personal contacts, they would rightly be expected to face the harshest of penalties and lose their security clearance.

“Standards matter, and the clear signal from her appointment is that ministers can act with impunity if it suits the prime minister.”

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, replied during PMQs that a deal had been struck to shore up support from hard-right MPs who support Braverman. “He’s so weak, he’s done a grubby deal trading national security because he was scared to lose another leadership election,” Starmer said.

Braverman left the chamber just minutes before a debate on her conduct after Labour was granted an urgent question.

Cooper said there were many unanswered questions regarding Braverman’s conduct. “Is this the only time she has done this or has she shared other documents? Or other sensitive information?

“What security clearance has the home secretary been given? Does she still have access to the most sensitive documents and information? Did the cabinet secretary warn against her reappointment?”

Replying for the government, the paymaster general, Jeremy Quin, was unable to say whether the home secretary had been given full security clearance. He did, however, say that the government would appoint a new independent ethics adviser.

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Braverman back as a result of grubby deal, says Labour

suella braverman

Braverman, an outspoken critic of former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s economic policy, stepped down last week after breaching email security rules…reports Asian Lite News

The opposition Labour Party’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said on Wednesday that Suella Braverman was back as the UK Home Secretary as the result of a “grubby deal” which helped Rishi Sunak “get over the line and become Prime Minister”.

Speaking to the BBC, she argued that this calls into question Sunak’s pledge to run a government of integrity.

She added that the discussion “should be about the future of our country, not the future of the Conservative Party”.

However, Phillipson gives a cautious welcome to the installation of Gillian Keegan as education secretary.

Keegan left school at 16 and served an apprenticeship.

Phillipson says that news is “wonderful”, but went on to highlight a “massive drop-off in apprenticeship starts” and a “failure to prioritise skills” by Conservative-run governments.

On Tuesday, Sunak kicked off a row by reappointing the Indian-origin Braverman as Home Secretary, just days after she quit over a technical breach of government rules.

Braverman, an outspoken critic of former Prime Minister Liz Truss’s economic policy, stepped down last week after breaching email security rules.

In her resignation letter, she had also raised concerns about the direction of Truss’s government.

Also on Wednesday, the Liberal Democrats called for a Cabinet Office probe into Braverman’s re-appointment.

In a statement, Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: “Suella Braverman’s appointment makes a mockery of Rishi Sunak’s claims to be bringing integrity to Number 10.

“There must be a full independent inquiry by the Cabinet Office into her appointment, including any promises (Prime Minister Rishi) Sunak made to her behind closed doors.”

Carmichael added that Braverman should be sacked if it is confirmed she “repeatedly broke the ministerial code and threatened national security”.

“A Home Secretary who broke the rules is not fit for a Home Office which keeps the rules.”

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Braverman blames Leicester riots on new migrants

The Indian High Commission in London had also issued a statement at the time expressing concern for the safety of people of Indian-origin targeted in what the local police termed as “serious disorder”…reports Asian Lite News

Home Secretary Suella Braverman, has blamed the recent “riots” in Leicester following an India-Pakistan cricket match on uncontrolled migration into the UK and the failure of newcomers to integrate.

In her first speech since being appointed home minister at the Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham on Tuesday evening, Braverman referenced her visit to the eastern England city after clashes involving many Hindu and Muslim groups last month.

The Indian High Commission in London had also issued a statement at the time expressing concern for the safety of people of Indian-origin targeted in what the local police termed as “serious disorder”.

“The unexamined drive towards multiculturalism as an end in itself combined with the corrosive aspects of identity politics has led us astray,” Braverman told the audience of Tory MPs and members.

“I saw this when I went to Leicester recently. A melting pot of cultures and a beacon of religious harmony. But even there, riots and civil disorder have taken place because of failures to integrate large numbers of newcomers. Such conflict has no place in the UK,” she said.

The daughter of a Tamil mother and Goan-origin father, Braverman insisted it was not “racist” to want to control the UK’s borders as she pledged to cut “low-skilled foreign workers”. The Brexit-backing barrister and former Attorney General in the UK Cabinet used her family heritage as a reference point to back up her plans to control migration into the country.

“This isn’t just about policy or economics for me. It’s intensely personal. My parents came here in the 1960s from Kenya and Mauritius. They loved Britain from afar, as children of the Commonwealth. It was Britain that offered them security and opportunity as young adults,” she said, amid several interludes of applause.

“It’s not racist for anyone, ethnic minority or otherwise, to want to control our borders. It’s not bigoted to say that we have too many asylum seekers who are abusing the system. It’s not xenophobic to say that mass and rapid migration places pressure on housing, public services and community relations,” she said.

“My parents came here through legal and controlled migration. They spoke the language, threw themselves into the community, they embraced British values. When they arrived, they signed up to be part of our shared project because the United Kingdom meant something distinct. Integration was part of the quid pro quo,” she added.

The minister reiterated that integration did not mean abandoning their Indian heritage but meant adopting British identity.

“This is the best place on earth to come and live in, but I fear that we are losing sight of the core values and the culture that made it so,” she warned.

As part of her pledge on migration, the new home minister vowed to control the small boats bringing illegal migrants across the English Channel, leaving a safe country like France and “abusing” the UK’s asylum system. Praising the efforts of her predecessor, Priti Patel – also of Indian origin, Braverman committed herself to making the scheme of deporting illegal migrants to Rwanda work, which Patel had launched but is yet to fully take off.

Braverman’s pledge to cut crime with “more PCs, less PC”, a reference to increasing the number of police constables (PCs) and reducing the political correctness (PC) preventing them from acting in some cases won her all round applause at the conference.

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Braverman in Leicester to take stock of unrest

Lukman Patel, 31, of Homeway Road in Leicester, also appeared in court on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to possession of an offensive weapon and racially aggravated harassment/alarm/distress…reports Asian Lite News

Home Secretary Suella Braverman met the police in Leicester to discuss and take stock of the recent communal unrest in the English city, the media reported.

In a statement on Thursday, a Leicestershire Police spokesperson said: “I can confirm the Home Secretary visited Leicester today and was briefed by Temporary Chief Constable Rob Nixon and other senior officers.

“We won’t be providing any further detail in relation to the meeting.”

According to the BBC, Braverman has been in regular contact with the chief constable, and that she visited to receive further updates on the disorder, and to thank police officers for their response.

Since the unrest first erupted on August 28 following an India-Pakistan cricket match, the police have arrested 47 people amid tensions involving mainly young men from sections of the Muslim and Hindu communities.

Major disorder broke out on the evening of September 17 following an earlier protest.

Meanwhile, a meeting of community leaders, councillors and local police on Wednesday evening decided upon a review to take place into recent unrest.

Speaking to the BBC, Leicester Mayor Peter Soulsby said on Thursday: “Last night’s meeting was very constructive and everyone there was determined to ensure that the recent disorder does not spoil relations in our city.

“My intention is to have a review of what led up to the events at the weekend, and also to seek some independent thoughts on how we all — council, police and communities — can learn from this, and what we can do at a local level to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

However, an independent body is yet to be appointed to oversee the review. Three people have been charged so far in relation to the disorder.

Amos Noronha, 20, of Illingworth Road in Leicester, appeared in court on Monday, where he pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon and was jailed for 10 months, the BBC reported.

Adam Yusuf, 21, of Bruin Street in Leicester, appeared in court on Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article and was sentenced to a year in prison, suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work.

Lukman Patel, 31, of Homeway Road in Leicester, also appeared in court on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to possession of an offensive weapon and racially aggravated harassment/alarm/distress.

He is expected to stand trial on November 11.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has described the events in Leicester and Smethwick as “ugly” and called for solidarity.

“British Hindus and British Muslims have far more in common than that which divides us, and we should be eternally on our guard against extremist forces who seek to stoke up tensions between our communities for their own selfish ends,” he said.

Police have encouraged people to prepare for Navratri and Diwali as normal, and said a “visible and strengthened police presence will be there for all communities”.

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