The Home Secretary has been accused of being "out of her depth" after admitting many asylum seekers would need to make the journey into the UK to submit a claim.

In a video from the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Suella Braverman is questioned on the subject of the Manston migrant processing centre.

The controversial centre was cleared of people who were being held there following issues surrounding overcrowding and "inhumane" conditions.

MPs have said there is a "shortage of safe and legal routes" to the country for asylum seekers after the Home Secretary struggled to explain how an orphaned, fleeing African child would be able to make a claim from abroad.

Political opponents said it shows Ms Braverman "does not understand her own asylum policy".

Tim Loughton, a Conservative member of the committee, said "let us do a bit of roleplay" and told Ms Braverman: "I am a 16-year-old orphan from an East African country escaping a war zone and religious persecution and I have a sibling legally in the United Kingdom at the moment. What is the safe and legal route for me to come to the United Kingdom?"

In the exchange on Wednesday, Ms Braverman replied: "Well, we have an asylum system and people can put in applications for asylum."

Mr Loughton then asked: "How would I do that?"

To which Ms Braverman said: "You can do it through the safe and legal routes that we have."

But Mr Loughton replied: "I am not Syrian. I am not Afghan. I am not Ukrainian. What scheme is open to me?"

"Well, if you are able to get to the UK, you are able to put in an application for asylum," Ms Braverman added.

Mr Loughton asked: "I would only enter the UK illegally then, wouldn’t I? How could I arrive in the UK if I did not have permission to get on to an aircraft to arrive legally?"

At this point, Ms Braverman asked Home Office officials to step in and respond further.

The department’s permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft added: "Depending on which country you are from, you could engage with UNHCR (the UN’s refugee agency) and that would be a way of getting leave to enter the UK in order to put in that asylum claim.

"But I accept that there are some countries where that would not be possible."

"I think the point is that there is a shortage of safe and legal routes, other than for specific groups of people, that we have generously offered safe haven to," Mr Loughton said.

The meeting came a day before the year anniversary of the deaths of 32 people who died after their dinghy sinked – the biggest loss of life in the Channel in more than three decades.

This year well in excess of 40,000 people have made the perilous crossing crammed into flimsy dinghies.

When we were having the same conversation last year the then-record was 28,500, a startling number which the government insisted would be brought down.

Following the committee discussion, Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "Suella Braverman does not understand her own asylum policy".

She went on to say there is now no safe, legal route for lone child refugees to rejoin relatives in the UK.

"She is effectively saying they need to make dangerous journey. Shameful," Ms Cooper added.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: "Never has a Home Secretary been more out of their depth.

"Every day this Conservative government remains in office brings more embarrassment to our great country."

Ms Braverman also said the current rate of processing asylum claims was too low and the system was too slow, with caseworkers currently making just one decision a week on average.

She told MPs she wanted this to increase to three per week by May, with an "ambition" to get to four, adding: "There are lots of things we are looking at. I cannot lie, it is not easy."

The Home Office is also paying a retention allowance to stop staff leaving in a bid to help cut asylum backlogs.

If staff stay for a year, they are paid £1,500 more. If they stay for two years or more, they are given £2,500, Mr Rycroft told the committee.

He said: "Retention is an issue, these are amongst the lowest paid in the civil servants."