THE Archbishop of Canterbury should house illegal migrants in spare rooms in Lambeth Palace, former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson has suggested.
In a discussion about the Rwanda bill, the GB News presenter said: “It’s funny that we’re talking about this now actually, because last week all the talk was about scrapping the bill and now the same sort of people were talking about, ‘Lords, leave us alone, let’s get the bill through’.
“Let’s hope they don’t mess about with it too much over the next few weeks. I suspect they probably will. A lot of do-gooders in there. I noticed the church was piping up this morning.
“And I will say to the church and the Archbishop of Canterbury while I’m on here, he’s got a big place just across the road Martin, I walk past that every day. It’s called Lambeth Palace, it’s got hundreds of empty rooms. We’re struggling for accommodation at the moment. Put them in there.”
Asked about illegal migrants getting jobs during a discussion with Martin Daubney, he said: “Let’s just be honest for one minute. I’m not happy about illegal migrants working in this country, I think that’s a pull factor.
“But this has been around for a while, this scheme. If illegal migrants, or asylum seekers, shall we say, masquerading as asylum seekers, decide to make a claim and if that claim was over 12 months and it’s not their fault, then they can apply for permission to work in a sector where we’ve got shortages.
“It’s nothing new but it’s been blown out in the press this morning and people are very angry about it. I’m not happy about it. I don’t think anyone who arrives here illegally should be given permission to work. I think they should be swiftly removed.”
He added: “Why don’t they claim refugee status in France? That’s a safe country. It’s the same issue, we’ve got migrants masquerading as asylum seekers, they are not genuine asylum seekers.
“If you’ve passed through six safe countries to get to this country, I’m sorry, you are not a genuine asylum seeker. You should stop in the first country of refuge and claim asylum there.”
