Tory MP says migrant found in woman’s bedroom inflamed tensions in Dover

MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke, leaving Southwark Crown Court in London after Former Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault. (Photo by Kirsty O'Connor/PA Images via Getty Images)
The MP for Dover has said tensions in the area are 'running high' after reports of migrants entering homes. (Getty)

Dover MP Natalie Elphicke has said 'tensions have been running high' in her constituency since a teenage boy ran into a woman's home last week.

The teenager, believed to be Albanian, ran into a house in the village of Aycliffe, near Dover, and asked for transport to London or Manchester.

He is thought to have arrived on a small boat that landed on nearby Shakespeare Beach - a common arrival spot for those not rescued at sea.

Speaking on LBC on Sunday afternoon, Elphicke said the incident had inflamed tensions in the local area as she discussed an attack petrol bomb attack at a Dover centre for processing migrants.

He then took his own life at a nearby petrol station.

Elphicke described the attack as "a very shocking incident."

She went on to say that while she "wouldn't want to speculate" on motives, "it is fair to say tensions have been running high over the last period and I have raised my concerns with the immigration minister".

Police investigating Sunday's petrol bomb attack said the motive was not yet known, but it was not being treated as a terrorist incident. The man has been identified as a 66-year-old who lives 120 miles away in the High Wycombe area in Buckinghamshire.

Watch: Flammable devices hurled at migrant centre in Dover

A view of the Manston immigration short-term holding facility located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent. 700 people were moved to the Manston facility for safety reasons after incendiary devices were thrown at a Border Force migrant centre in Dover on Sunday. Picture date: Monday October 31, 2022. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)
700 people were moved to the Manston immigration short-term holding facility on Sunday after incendiary devices were thrown at a Border Force migrant centre on Sunday (getty)

Elphicke has also made clear who she regards as partly to blame for a chaotic policy that has got worse under a decade of Conservative-led government.

Writing in The Mail on Sunday, she said: "We must all do what we can to alleviate human suffering.

"But surely we must also be honest about what is actually happening – which is that the vast increase in illegal Channel crossings is being driven by Albanians with no right to asylum on our shores whatsoever."

Elphicke cited a Home Affairs Committee and said that "one to two per cent of Albania's entire male population under 40 had arrived in Britain across the Channel this year".

"They are not fleeing wars in the Middle East," she said. "Albania is a Nato member. A country seeking to join the EU.

 

"Not that you'd know it from the handwringing rights industry, the charity sector and the skewed reporting of the issue from the Left-wing media and the BBC.

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard the Ramsgate Lifeboat following a small boat incident in the Channel. Picture date: Thursday October 27, 2022. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)
RNLI crews bring rescued migrants to shore daily as hundreds attempt to reach the UK in small boats across the Channel (Getty)

"It's time that those who have hindered Governments' efforts to end these crossings – a ragbag of union leaders, pro-migrant charities and Left-wing lawyers – now stopped."

It comes as the Channel crossing crisis deepens amid growing concern over the conditions in which migrants are being held while waiting to be processed once they arrive in the UK.

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.

Charities and human rights groups say asylum seekers are being treated inhumanely.

On Saturday, The Times reported that decisions made by Home Secretary Suella Braverman led directly to overcrowding and outbreaks of scabies and diphtheria at a separate migrant processing centre in Kent, citing multiple government sources.

Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale blamed the Home Office, under either former home secretary Priti Patel or the present incumbent Ms Braverman, of failing to book hotels, contributing to the overcrowding at the Manston migrant processing site.

Allies of Ms Patel said she signed off on hotel accommodation for asylum seekers whenever it was required, despite it being politically “unpalatable”.

On Monday, Braverman also denied blocking the use of emergency hotels and ignoring legal advice.

"My thoughts are with those affected, the tireless Home Office staff and police responding. We must now support those officers as they carry out their investigation," she said.