Doncaster Tory MP blames 'champagne sipping socialists' in latest 'we are full' anti-immigration rant

Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher, who has delivered a number of lengthy tirades against immigration and asylum seekers in recent months, repeatedly claiming: “Doncaster is full,” challenged new Home Secretary James Cleverly in the House of Commons after the Supreme Court said there were "substantial grounds" to believe the Rwandan government could deport people sent to the country to places where they would be unsafe.

Mr Fletcher, who owns an £819,000-valued house in rural Doncaster as well as ten rental properties - more than any other MP in England - wrote on social media: “Wanting open borders is all very well for the champagne sipping socialists of North London and the like in their leafy boroughs. No doubt they will be celebrating the Supreme Court decision.

“They don’t have to live with the consequences of their idealism. They carry on living in their multi million £ houses as normal.

“However, we in Doncaster do have to live with the consequences. I made it clear in Parliament yet again that we must have tighter controls on immigration both legal and illegal.”

He told the Home Secretary: “The Opposition speak about natural dispersal when dealing with economic migrants.

"This means they often end up in Doncaster, where property is cheaper, rather than in the leafy suburbs of the liberal elites, but Doncaster is full.”

In response, Mr Cleverly, appointed earlier this week after the sacking of Suella Braverman, told him: “It is often the least well-off communities who feel the burden most heavily, and it is our duty to them to address these issues. I give him that commitment - on my recent trip to just outside his constituency, I got his name wrong, for which I apologise – and I will do exactly that.”

Meanwhile, Mr Cleverly has defended emergency laws to revive plans to fly asylum seekers to Rwanda, as a former Supreme Court justice said the measures would be extraordinary.

Lord Sumption said the move "won't make any difference" after the Supreme Court ruled the policy was unlawful.

Mr Cleverly disagreed with the criticism and said a new treaty with Rwanda would allow flights to depart.

After the ruling, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rejected calls to drop the plans and said he was working on a new treaty that would prevent genuine refugees from being sent back to where they had fled from.

Facing pressure from Tory MPs on the right of his party, Mr Sunak promised to "do what is necessary" to enact the Rwanda policy, including changing UK laws.

But many expect a new treaty to be challenged in the courts and Tory MPs will be demanding more detail on how the government thinks it can bypass human rights laws and international conventions.

The Supreme Court made it clear in its judgment that domestic legislation, as well as international treaties, were relevant to its decision to rule the Rwanda scheme unlawful.