LONDON: UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s comments on migration are driving a surge in racism in the country, the former government adviser on tackling violence against women has said, the Sunday Times reported.
Somali-born Nimco Ali, who resigned from her post, warned that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will lose the next general election “with Suella as his home secretary.”
Ali, 39, moved to the UK as a child refugee. She served as an adviser under the Boris Johnson government but resigned this month after citing complaints about Braverman, who was made home secretary in October.
Braverman has promoted a strong stance on migration, including saying it was her “dream” to be able to deport migrants to Rwanda using a controversial asylum agreement.
Ali said: “When you start to normalize these things it’s really hard to put it back in its box. When you have your home secretary speaking the way she is speaking and being cheered, that is problematic, especially when you’re the first man of color to be prime minister.
“There’s nothing wrong with saying we need stronger borders. For me, I don’t want open borders, that’s not how you run a country, but you can be strict and still be human and have compassion.”
Ali said Braverman’s “crazy rhetoric” had led to her decision to resign, adding: “I don’t know why your ambition is to put people on a flight to Rwanda and get rid of human rights. You are a woman of color.
“I can understand when white able-bodied men say it, but you? Even talking about it now makes me anxious.”
Ali said she had recently suffered two separate incidents of racial abuse in London. “I thought, what is actually going on? Why are people thinking it’s OK to be so openly racist?” she added, describing Braverman’s comments as “legitimizing” racism.
A home secretary source told the Sunday Times: “It’s the home secretary’s duty to be honest with the British people about the scale of the crisis we’re facing on the south coast with the small boats crisis. She makes no apologies for that.”
