Migrants being stranded in London was a mistake, says minister

Mistakes were made after two groups of migrants were left stranded in London this week, the government has admitted.

Home Office minister Chris Philp said there had been a "misunderstanding", after people were mistakenly taken from the Manston centre in Kent and left at Victoria station.

But defending the government, he said there had been a "dramatic improvement" in conditions at overcrowded Manston.

And he criticised any migrants who were making "unnecessary" Channel crossings.

He told Times Radio it was a "bit of a cheek" for people to "start complaining about the conditions when you've illegally entered a country without necessity".

Mr Philp's comments come after the government was urged to get a grip on overcrowding at the migrant processing site in Kent.

There was further chaos when it emerged two groups of migrants had been taken to Victoria Railway Station with nowhere to go.

Around 11 migrants who left the Manston processing centre and arrived at the station on Tuesday did not have accommodation.

After receiving help from volunteers at a homeless charity who liaised with the Home Office, the group was then taken to stay at a hotel in Norwich. One volunteer told the BBC that the men were from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said officials had worked "at pace" to find accommodation for them.

Less than 24 hours afterwards, a second group of migrants was also taken to the capital without accommodation. The group slept rough on the streets until housing was provided, according to the local authority.

"Both groups of people told immigration officials at Manston they had addresses to go to, so friends and family," Mr Philp told Sky News.

"Obviously, that turned out subsequently not to be the case.

"Quite how that misunderstanding arose, maybe it was lost in translation, I don't know, but clearly they have now all been looked after."

Mr Philp's comments come after the government faced criticism following reports that Manston was holding migrants, including families, for four weeks, in breach of the law. It is intended that people stay for no more than 24 hours while their claim is processed.

At most, 1,600 migrants should be at the processing centre at any one time - the MP for the area said that figure was more like 4,000 on Monday.

Mr Philp told BBC Breakfast that there had been a "substantial effort" to reduce the number of people at Manston, with more than 1,000 migrants being removed over the course of the week.

He added that he had seen a "dramatic improvement" with work carried out on facilities and additional accommodation built.

The Home Office said it was taking urgent decisions to alleviate issues at Manston, including sourcing alternative accommodation.

Mr Philp said English Channel crossings were putting "enormous pressure" on the immigration system.

"We can't have these mass scale illegal entries because it stops us looking after people genuinely in need like the Ukrainians, the Afghans and the Syrians who we've been very generously and warmheartedly welcoming and looking after," he told the BBC.

Westminster City Council's Labour leader Adam Hug said the "chaos" of the situation meant local services and charities were "having to pick up the slack".

Mr Hug told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme the misunderstanding between immigration officials and migrants this week could have been down to language barriers.

"It could be people who are just desperately wanting to get out of a horrible situation that is on the ground in Manston," he added.

Mr Hug said that some of the migrants who were bussed into the capital on Wednesday were put on a coach to Norwich 12 hours later.

But Stephen Evans, chief executive of Norwich Council, has said the Home Office did not give its local officials any warning that the group would be arriving in the city. He said he first heard about it in a news article.

"We hadn't been told. We don't know who they are and we don't know where they've gone to in the city," he said.

He added that councils need to know where migrants are for safeguarding reasons, adding that the Home Office usually gives local leaders just a few days' notice when it comes to opening a hotel for migrants in their area.

Damian Green, the Conservative MP for Ashford in Kent and former immigration minister, said the Home Office had "taken it eye off the ball" and had been concentrating on plans to send migrants to Rwanda when it should have been be focussed on processing asylum claims more quickly.

He said if asylum seekers were quickly assessed then the need for housing thousands in hotels, at a cost of £6m a day, would be avoided.

Speaking to the Today programme, Mr Green accused the Home Office of housing migrants in hotels often "against the advice of police" and local authorities, adding that his own home county of Kent was "really under strain".

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick is due to visit Dover on Friday to meet the town's MP, Natalie Elphicke, along with local residents and councillors.