Rupert Lowe has intensified calls for the government to take radical action on illegal migration after a record 1,072 people arrived by small boat in a single day. The surge in Channel crossings has driven support for Lowe’s online petition, which is now backed by over 365,000 signatures and climbing — a level that will compel a parliamentary debate.
The petition, started by Mr Lowe, the former Brexit Party MEP and now MP, demands the immediate introduction of offshore detention camps and mass deportation for those entering the UK illegally. “1,072 illegals broke into our country yesterday. 1,072, in ONE DAY,” Lowe said in a statement. “There is one answer, and one answer only. Securely detain them offshore in camps, and deport them. All of them. There is no other way.”
Urging ministers to “seek to establish offshore detention facilities for individuals who enter the UK illegally, to process them and arrange their deportation.” Lowe has argued that the UK has the means and the space: “We need to secure the illegal migrants on an offshore island. Detain the illegals, arrange deportation, and remove them as swiftly as possible. We have plenty of islands, we have plenty of tents – let’s use them.”
Lowe’s hard-line stance comes as frustration mounts about the use of hotels to house asylum seekers — often in residential neighbourhoods and close to schools. “Imagine a hotel down the road from your child’s school is suddenly filled with unchecked foreign males from alien cultures. No consultation, it just happens,” he said.
On social media, Lowe reiterated his concerns: “Unchecked illegal migrants should be allowed NOWHERE near primary or secondary schools – they shouldn’t be free to roam the streets, they should be securely detained.
“I did ask the Home Office to implement protection zones around schools when there is a migrant hotel nearby. They refused. Let’s remember, they don’t even inform residents of when a local hotel is being hijacked. Again, I asked the Home Office to implement such a consultation process. They refused. Their opening line in response? Stating they have an ‘obligation to provide destitute asylum seekers with accommodation and subsistence support’. Remind me – who is the Home Office supposed to be serving? It should be declared a national security emergency and treated as such.
“These unchecked foreign males are NOT welcome in our communities – every single one should be deported. But above all else – let these unchecked men NOWHERE NEAR school children.”
The Home Office maintains that it is bound by law to provide support to those arriving in the UK destitute, and has defended its use of hotels as a “temporary solution” in the face of record arrivals. Previous government attempts to introduce offshore processing, such as the high-profile but stalled Rwanda plan, have so far failed to get off the ground. Ministers have not backed Lowe’s proposal for mass detention on offshore islands.
With the petition now well above the threshold required for MPs to debate the issue in Parliament, the government faces growing pressure to clarify its long-term approach to illegal migration and community safety. Public concern, stoked by record arrivals and the visible impact on local areas, shows little sign of abating.
The petition can be viewed online at:
