Tom Tugendhat defends asylum bill but dodges questions on lack of legal routes

Security minister denies only route for women’s rights activist from Iran is via a boat across the Channel

The security minister, Tom Tugendhat, has defended the government’s illegal migration bill, swerving repeated questions on whether there were any safe and legal routes for refugees from countries such as Iran to come to the UK.

The bill, which will see asylum seekers who come to the UK via “illegal” routes deported, has come in for harsh criticism from the former prime minister Theresa May and others, but Tugendhat said the government was determined to end the suffering caused by traffickers.