Suella Braverman says illegal migrants should be housed in 'bespoke tented accommodation'

So, Ella Bradman, you've given a very impassioned speech there about the situation in the town

Now, you said crucially that you think that this information had been kept away from people

about the block behind me being used to house asylum seekers. Does this show the power of people in Waterlooville to stop that from going ahead

Without a doubt, Charlie. Listen, I think this is a great victory for the people of Waterlooville

That's why I'm here. Not to grandstand or claim victory. This is to say thank you to the people

They protested peacefully and respectfully. They signed my petition in the thousands

and they supported local Conservative councillors who exposed this plan. And you're absolutely right

This was discovered by accident. This was discovered by accident by local Conservative councillors

They came to me and we exposed it and we blew the whistle. And effectively, with the groundswell of opinion

we shamed and embarrassed the council and the Home Office into stopping their plan So all credit to the people of Waterloo Bill That where the council has said that it was 36 people most of them in families Now you had a lot of concern about men undocumented men in local areas Did that change your perspective

You thought it could be just families needed help staying in those buildings behind me? No. Over 90% of illegal arrivals are men of fighting age, young men, young single men

And it's very hard to actually find families to accommodate and populate sites around the country

I saw that as Home Secretary. And so very often councils might promise to house families, women and children

but it doesn't always materialise that way because they are very few and far between

And obviously these people need to go somewhere. There have been 50,000 arrivals since Labour came into power

Local areas generally don't want these people in their local areas. We spoke to someone earlier who said that there should now be camps set up in the country to house asylum seekers

What do you make of that for the small boats migrants? Well I do think that they should be kept in bespoke tented accommodation largely which is not residential buildings because we have thousands of people just in haven alone who are in need of social housing who are declared homeless

They should be put first. We have veterans who are homeless around the country. They should be put into this accommodation

And frankly, we should not be rolling out the red carpet and putting people in five star luxury accommodation or luxury flats

That is not a good use of taxpayers' money, and it's frankly not fair

And finally, you've had a bit of a battle with the local council here. They accused you of using inflammatory language

What's your reaction to that and them saying that you were spreading misinformation about this situation here

Well, listen, they were caught red-handed, and they had to deflect. So, of course, they're going to argue about tone

And they didn't quite call me racist, but they were trying to find the next best thing

so they went for inflammatory. And at the end of the day it not inflammatory to speak up for your community It not inflammatory to say no we don want illegal migrants in our town centre which is going through a regeneration project And it not inflammatory to want to secure our borders I speak for thousands of people And unfortunately Haven Borough Council should hang

their heads in shame for failing local people. There'll be a lot of nervousness, I think, in the

Home Office and the government, don't you think? Because this local area has shown that when there

is a protest and when there is sufficient local action, they might have to move it along. Do you

think this could inspire more protests in areas where asylum seekers are looking to be accommodated

I do. People have had enough and people feel scared. They feel angry. But most importantly

they feel powerless. They don't feel like anybody in Westminster, any politician is really doing

anything about this crisis or taking it seriously. Instead, they're being dismissed as far right or

inflammatory. And there's no honesty. And so people feel powerless. And that's why they're

taking to the streets, albeit peacefully, in Waterlooville, of which I'm very proud

But they feel that's the only option they have left to do something and feel some kind

of agency over this crisis which is sweeping our country