Priti Patel is considering sending asylum seekers to a volcanic island – 9 explosive reactions

Home Secretary, Priti Patel, is no stranger to controversy.

She was forced to quit a previous cabinet position after having unauthorised meetings with Israeli officials and lying about them.

She told a Question Time audience that she wanted the death penalty to be restored.

She has had Extinction Rebellion added to a terrorism list.

She criticised “activist lawyers” for helping asylum seekers.

It’s on that last point that the latest outcry has developed.

NEW: Priti Patel asked the UK home office to explore sending asylum seekers to Ascension Island, a volcanic outcrop in the middle of the Atlantic. Mad scoop from @GeorgeWParker @pmdfoster @SebastianEPayne https://t.co/MJo2fMPYCR

— Matthew Garrahan (@MattGarrahan) September 29, 2020

Ascension Island is a British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific, neighbouring St Helena, which is another possible location for the prospective holding centre.

Labour MP Jess Phillips had this to say.

I'm not even surprised anymore, I hope that decent tories speak out and damn the growing hatred and inhumanity. https://t.co/4LIo3wjAXe

— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) September 29, 2020

Most other people reacted in much the same way.

1.

From my experience watching films it’s never the goodies who explore the option of sending people they’re not keen on to volcanoes https://t.co/WUNfC3SIlo

— James Felton (@JimMFelton) September 29, 2020

2.

Going to bring this up next time someone claims there’s “no such thing as a bad idea” pic.twitter.com/g24loeiz7K

— Ahir Shah (@AhirShah) September 29, 2020

3.

Oh so that’s what they meant by an Australian-style immigration system, by building concentration camps in the middle of the ocean https://t.co/YfScpmTIOl

— ✨ Dean Tāne ✨ (@Maccadaynu) September 29, 2020

4.

There’s nasty, truly nasty, and ship-some-of-the-most-vulnerable-people-on-the-planet-4000-miles-away-to-the-South-Atlantic nasty.https://t.co/eKwwVIQo6N

— David Schneider (@davidschneider) September 29, 2020

5.

We are led by cruel people. So much brutality. https://t.co/r2HFf516rh

— Jessica Simor QC (@JMPSimor) September 29, 2020

6.

The Cruelty Is The Point https://t.co/ibtPT6kIDN

— Nick Pettigrew (@Nick_Pettigrew) September 29, 2020

7.

I bet she wanted a tower in the middle of it to stand on top of and cackle, while occasionally screaming for someone to feed her laser sharks. https://t.co/SwIFVTTbqm

— Tiernan Douieb (@TiernanDouieb) September 29, 2020

8.

Priti Patel is now only ‘capital punishment’ away from a clean sweep on the 2010 BNP Manifesto pic.twitter.com/GrprFKmBRN

— Kieran Morris (@hipsterscumbag) September 29, 2020

9.

Deranged https://t.co/g44ICsDTmU

— Toby Earle (@TobyonTV) September 29, 2020

Andy Gilder had a suggestion.

Is there any chance we could keep the asylum seekers and drop Priti Patel into a volcano in the Atlantic? https://t.co/JLDxcsFXOj

— Enough Of That Now (@AndyGilder) September 29, 2020

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Priti Patel just took aim at ‘activist lawyers’ helping asylum seekers – only 4 responses you need

Source FT Image Screengrab, Screengrab 2