The Prime Minister said the Government is “bearing down” on illegal migrants, but did not comment on the concerns of residents over a Sussex camp being used to host migrants.
Sir Keir Starmer visited Acorn Nursery in Portslade to promote the Department for Education's “crackdown on hidden childcare fees”.
During the visit, the Prime Minister was asked by The Argus to comment on the Crowborough migrant camp.
The site at Crowborough military camp has been temporarily housing migrants since January this year.
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A spokesman for Wealden District Council said there has been “repeated promises” from the government that the camp “would be open for no longer than 12 months”.
Asked whether he had any sympathies with the residents of Crowborough, Mr Starmer spoke of the Government’s successes but avoided addressing the camp specifically.
He said: “Firstly, the legal migration numbers have come right down. Under the last government, they skyrocketed up to nearly a million. It quadrupled in just a short number of years. We've got that under control; brought the number right down. It's now less than a fifth of the number that it was. So that is good work on that front.
“On the question of unlawful migration, of course we need to keep cracking down on it, doing the work to stop people crossing the channel. Nobody should be crossing the channel in a small boat. We're working with the French authorities and others to reduce those numbers and to bear down on it.
“In relation to the asylum accommodation, the important thing is that those cases are processed. I'm really pleased that more cases are being processed and more quickly than before because the answer to this shouldn't be where are they housed. The answer should be to reduce those lists so we don't have to house them anywhere because the asylum process is working as it should work. And that's where we're bearing down in relation to that.”
