ANDY Burnham has pledged to make “greater use” of migrant detention centres if he succeeds Keir Starmer as prime minister.
The mayor of Greater Manchester, who is vying to become the Labour MP for Makerfield in a by-election on June 18, said that the UK Government needs to “go further” and that he “agrees with what [Nigel] Farage is saying”.
He told BBC Radio Manchester: “It’s this thing about control, isn’t it? It feels like the country isn’t functioning properly, running things properly and the small boats issue completely speaks to that. People want it to be dealt with. We do need to go further.
“We need to make greater use of detention so that people who have got no basis for a claim are not actually admitted into the country.”
Burnham added that “all areas of the country” should play a role.
“It’s not right that the Home Office just comes to more deprived areas of the country. I used to be an immigration minister under the Blair government. We did get a grip on the system at that point in time. This government is getting more of a grip but it does need to go further,” he said.
“Local authorities are often just not consulted at all. The Home Office just does what it wants. I haven’t proposed directly that local authorities should take control. They must be notified and properly consulted.”
He added: “What I am calling for is the reform of these Home Office contracts. I do agree with what [Nigel] Farage is saying. What we’ve got to do is get back to a sense of order.
“There should be safe routes for people. What people don’t want to see is the chaos of the small boat crossings. I think the government is getting some order back into the system but there is definitely more to be done.”
It comes after Reform UK posted (and then removed) attack ads including an AI-generated images showing a group of people in a small boat holding “Vote Andy” placards emblazoned with a portrait of Burnham.
The artist who did that portrait, illustrator Stanley Chow, has since accused Farage’s party of copyright infringement and asked for a public apology over the content, which they said was “edited without permission”.
A Reform UK spokesman said the party maintains that its use of the material, which was posted a number of times on social media, “amounts to fair use” and that “this legal action is politically motivated”.
“However, we have removed the posts in good faith and without any admission of liability on our part,” they said.
