Conservative MP Jill Mortimer has received praise today for speaking up in Parliament to call on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to expel illegal migrants living in the UK.
Mortimer’s impassioned outburst came after a Moroccan asylum seeker, who has now appeared in court, was arrested on suspicion of murdering a 70-year-old resident of the area.
Mortimer, who has served as MP for Hartlepool since 2021, told Rishi Sunak: “I want these people out of Hartlepool now!”
“Every week my office is besieged by asylum seekers. My staff are intimidated by young men. The fact is most of them are illegal migrants who should be expelled. Enough is enough.”
Jill Mortimer confronts PM Rishi Sunak on expelling illegal migrants
GB News
Mortimer appeared on Nigel Farage’s GB News show on Wednesday to discuss the exchange, saying “Someone has lost their life. There is a family grieving in my town, and that's what has provoked me to have to stand up and say what my constituents would want me to say!”
Expanding upon her comments in Parliament, Mortimer said: “We have an office in Hartlepool and my staff regularly have groups of young men outside, knocking on the door, ringing the bell. If they don't answer, because we can see on the cameras that it is more asylum seekers, they will ring the phones to try and catch us out.
“I have a fantastic team of very dedicated people in Hartlepool. We've undertaken 9000 pieces of casework and correspondence since I came in in 2021. They do amazing work and they shouldn't have to put up with this”
Nigel asked Mortimer what the men were wanting from her and her team, to which she replied: “They want my staff to give them leave to remain, which of course my staff can't do.”
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Rishi Sunak made 'stopping the boats' a core pillar of his plan for governmentPA“When they contact the Home Office to get an update on these people who who knock on the door to find out what's happening with their their applications, very often they'll find out that these people have been refused asylum on more than one occasion previously.”
Mortimer insisted she is “quite a moderate person” and made it clear her issue was with “the people that have gone through that process and are still here.”
Nigel questioned if the Conservative Party are the right party to solve the issue, pointing to its insistence on keeping the UK in the European Convention on Human Rights.
“I think today I had to speak truth to power because sometimes you have to be persuasive. I think there is the political will on our side of the benches to do this. I mean, it's a straight choice.”
Migrant boat arriving at DoverGB NEWS“The other side, they block everything we try to do to get this problem solved. iI you're in a straight choice, it's only the Conservatives that are going to be able to do anything and we are battling to do it!”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak responded to the Mortimer’s in Parliament saying, “This government is doing everything we can to tackle illegal migration and the harm it causes by removing those with no right to be here in the UK.”
“We have excellent long standing relationships to return people to many countries. We are returning thousands of people more this year than we have done in in the past. We will continue to use every avenue at our disposal to ensure that it is only this country and this government who decides who comes here, and not criminal gangs.”
Nigel reacted to this statement from the Prime Minister, saying: “Well, that's an answer we've heard over and over and over. I'm not convinced by it and not many are...”