"Stop the boats - really?" Former Tory Home Secretary Amber Rudd attacks 'baffling' plan

Sign up for View email from Westminster for expert analytics straight to your inboxReceive our free email View from WestminsterPlease enter a valid email addressPlease enter a valid email addressI would like to receive emails about offers, events and updates day of The Independent. Read our privacy notice{{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}An error has occurred. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Former Conservative Home Secretary Amber Rudd called the government's new small craft law 'confusing' and accused her successor of making promises that "cannot be kept".

The ex-MP, who led the Home Office between 2016 and 2018, told an event in London: "Stop the boats - really How? When?

"[They] promise things that can't be delivered and people get irritated and lack patience."

Ms Rudd, who resigned as an MP after Boris Johnson became prime minister, accused the government of 'not being up front and straight with the British people' about what was possible.

"Regarding the plans I find it baffling that the Home Secretary is proposing legislation which she admits is probably illegal," she added.

The former MP said Small boat crossings had started to increase during his final year as Home Secretary, but officials at the time believed the dinghies were "far too dangerous" to be widely used. /p>

Ms Rudd told an event organized by the Reform Think tank that under Theresa May's government ministers were 'pulling out the map to find out where people were coming from in the north of France' .

“We would consider spending money to make sure people could stay there,” Ms Rudd said.

“That was absolutely part of what the country was trying to do to slow down the number of people coming to the UK."

Ms Rudd said international aid spending, which is now used in part to fund aid to claimants asylum in Britain, have been used to create 'programmes targeted at the countries where people go ent" to help them stay n and give the "strong message that Britain is not a field of gold".

"We managed to keep the boats at bay - and to reduce the number of asylum seekers going through the tunnel and passing through cars and trucks - due to the excellent relationship with the French and the Eurodac database, to which we lost access with Brexit she added.

"I'm afraid working with the French has been an absolute disaster over the past few years and thank goodness Rishi is starting to rebuild that bridge."< /p>

The former minister expressed hope that...