Rising star Tory MP under fire over ‘deport legal migrants’ comment
A Conservative MP seen as a possible future leader of the party has been condemned for calling for the deportation of legally settled families in a bid to make the UK mostly “culturally consistent”.
In comments described as “deeply worrying and unpatriotic”, Katie Lam said she thought too many people with legal status in Britain should “go home”.
The remarks sparked cross-party criticism from Labor MP Richard Quigley, who said they showed “how far the Conservative party has fallen”.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: Independent these comments “Farage’s jump and the old parties’ ‘how high?’ Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey called on Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to condemn the comments.
To talk Sunday TimesMs Lam said: “There are a lot of people in this country who come here legally but actually shouldn’t be able to do so.
“It’s not the fault of the people who came here, they just shouldn’t have done it.
“They’ll have to go home, too. That will leave a group of people who are mostly, if not completely, culturally attuned.”
Mr Polanski also responded to her comments, saying: “If we want to talk about consistency, what does that mean? Who gets to decide what is culturally consistent and what is not?”
“And how can they call themselves conservatives when they want to erode the fundamental idea that it’s not entirely fair to change the rules once someone has made it their home?”
He added: “This leads to Farage saying jump and the old parties saying ‘how high?’ Another example of saying ”
Ms Lam’s proposals are similar to policies outlined by Nigel Farage, who has pledged to scrap indefinite leave to remain (ILR) which would put tens of thousands of people legally settled in the UK at risk of deportation.
The Labor government has also promised to reform the ILR to make it available only to those who have been in the UK for 10 years and can prove they have contributed to society.
Responding to Ms Lam’s comments, Mr Quigley said: “This perfectly represents how far the Tory party has fallen and how desperate they are.
“Being called a rising star in the current Conservative Party is the equivalent of saying you put wing mirrors on the space shuttle.
“He should consider being politically consistent rather than attacking people who are legally established here. It’s precisely people like Katie that are wrong with our politics. Greed, above all else.”
Left-wing Labor MP Rachael Maskell also criticized Ms Lam for her remarks. Independent: “There is a good reason why the Conservatives are out of power and completely unelectable when they seek to divide our societies and threaten the people who contribute to our economy and our country.
“If people are given the right to live in the UK, we must recognize the enormous contribution they bring and ensure that they and their children are appropriately integrated into our communities.
“As it stands now, our NHS and social care system would collapse if such a policy were introduced.”
In a letter to Ms Badenoch, Sir Ed described her remarks as “deeply worrying and unpatriotic” and added: “People who come to the UK legally, play by the rules and make it their home do not need to ‘go home’. This is their home.”
The Liberal Democrat leader said Ms Lam’s proposal to remove thousands of people legally in the UK “shows how far your party has strayed from the core values that the vast majority of people in our country hold dear: civility, tolerance and respect for the rule of law”.
He called on Ms Badenoch to clarify whether the MP’s comments reflected the party’s position and asked who the party thought should not be able to come to the UK legally.
“What does ‘a mostly, but not entirely, culturally compatible group of people’ mean and how will this be determined in the Conservative Party’s immigration rules?” he asked.
