Suella Braverman’s Tory conference speech heavy on anti-migrant rhetoric but light on detail

New home secretary earned two standing ovations but Conservative Party members will want results, Lizzie Dearden writes

Suella Braverman delivering her Conservative Party conference speech (EPA)

Suella Braverman was cheered to the rafters by Conservative Party members for a speech heavy on anti-migrant rhetoric, but it remains unclear how she will fulfil her commitments.

The new home secretary received two standing ovations during her speech to Tuesday’s conference.

The first came after she attacked the “forces working against us” over tackling small boat crossings by asylum seekers.

“The Labour Party will try to stop this, the Lib Dems will go bananas, The Guardian will have a meltdown,” Ms Braverman said. “As for the – don’t get me started on the lawyers.”

The former attorney general, who worked as a barrister before entering politics, claimed “small boat-chasing law firms” were abusing the law.

The second standing ovation came as Ms Braverman concluded her speech, vowing: “It’s time to tackle the small boats – no ifs, no buts … I stand ready to deliver. The time is ours, the time is now.”

She had committed to bringing forward laws “to make it clear that the only route to the United Kingdom is through a safe and legal route”, but gave no detail on how they would work.

Ms Braverman claimed that anyone entering the UK illegally from a safe country “should be swiftly returned to your home country or relocated to Rwanda”.

The home secretary paid tribute to the work of her predecessor Priti Patel for the “ground-breaking deal” with the country but took aim at numerous institutions she accused of thwarting policy ambitions.

She claimed that abuse of modern slavery laws were “derailing UK policy on illegal migration” and suggested that processes would be changed.

Ms Braverman talked of “asylum seekers abusing the system” and “illegal migrants” and said she wanted to cut down the number of migrants who “aren’t meeting the needs of our economy”.

She also attacked the European Court of Human Rights for issuing injunctions that grounded the first attempted flight to Rwanda in June, and suggested that legal changes would be made to “take back control”.

The home secretary accused police of “pandering to identity politics” and repeated that they would be expected to cut homicide, serious violence, and neighbourhood crime by 20 per cent – without giving details of how.

In a particularly incendiary part of her speech about “political correctness”, Ms Braverman invoked grooming scandals in Rochdale and Telford, adding: “The grooming gangs scandal is a stain on this country and it’s what happens when political correctness becomes more important than criminal justice.”

She intervened in recent disorder between Hindu and Muslim groups in Leicester by claiming they were the result of “failures to integrate large numbers of newcomers”.

The home secretary vowed to put protesters from Just Stop Oil, Insulate Britain or Extinction Rebellion “behind bars” if they break the law.

“It's very easy to say that the culture wars are a distraction but make no mistake, the left are attacking our profound, elemental values, wanting to replace them with the poison of identity politics,” she claimed.

Ms Braverman’s rhetoric was condemned as “nasty”, “vile” and “chilling” by political opponents following the speech.

While it was lapped up by Conservative Party delegates, they will be watching to see whether the new home secretary – unlike her predecessor – can put her words into action.