The MP for Blackpool South’s comment incited disbelief and outrage.
The tragic situation at the Manston asylum processing centre in Kent has been a leading news story this week.
Despite having an intended capacity to hold just 1,500 people, the facility was holding around 4,000. The overcrowding was described as constituting a ‘breach of humane conditions.’ Dozens of charities have written to the prime minister to raise concerns about the overcrowding and conditions at the site.
Following the concerns about overcapacity, hundreds of asylum seekers were moved out of Manston this week.
As Rishi Sunak talks about integrity and compassion being his guiding lights, and migrants share their experiences of the detention centre, including people having ‘no clothes, no shoes and sleeping on the earth or on a stool,’ Scott Benton, Conservative MP for Blackpool South, tweeted:
“If the conditions are so bad they are welcome to go back to France.”
Accompanying the comment is an article by GB News about migrants being held in Manston begging for help in a letter that describes the conditions as a ‘prison.’
The letter, written in broken English, was addressed to ‘journalists, organisations, everyone.’ A young girl threw a bottle containing the letter over a fence to a photographer. It claimed there were pregnant women and sick detainees at the Kent facility.
Amid such a heart-breaking, tragic situation taking place in the sixth-largest national economy in the world, Benton’s comment incited disbelief and outrage, slammed as cruel and inhumane.
“What a despicable man you are – you have no morals – no values how you were elected I have no idea – hope your constituents see you for what you are and exercise better judgement at the next G/E,” someone wrote.
One person said they didn’t not whether to “cry or vomit” and another that Benton was a “disgrace to Parliament and to the UK.”
“I know 6 year olds who are more emotionally mater and compassionate,” was another response.
“The fact that you are an MP makes your comments a disgrace upon us all. How very far the Conservatives have fallen. It’s time you went,” someone wrote.
“That’s a disgusting tweet. You’re supposed to be an MP. Instead you’re spouting hatred towards fellow human beings,” was another response.
Benton became MP for Blackpool South in 2019. He was previously a councillor on Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council. In January 2021, he was found to have broken Parliamentary rules. The complaint alleged that Benton had failed to register six entries in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests within the House’s 28-day deadline, for payments received for his work as a Members’ researcher.
A look at the MP’s voting record shows that he has consistently voted for a stricter asylum system and has almost always voted for stronger enforcement of immigration rules. The MP for Blackpool South has consistently voted against laws to promote equality and human rights, has consistently voted against a right to remain for EU nationals already living in the UK, and generally voted against more EU integration.
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
Image credit – Twitter screen grab
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