‘They Are Not Deterred’: BBC Breakfast Host Confronts Tory Minister On Rwanda Plan With Live Footage Of Migrant Channel Crossing
BBC Breakfast host Jon Kay put Tory Minister Michael Tomlinson on the spot on Tuesday morning by showing footage from that morning of asylum seekers embarking on the hazardous journey across the Channel, just hours after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pushed through his Rwanda bill.
The images challenge the government’s narrative that its new Rwanda deportation plan would act as a deterrent for the migrant boat crossings.
Kay said: “I have to ask you again about deterrence because, although the bill has now passed overnight, it has been the case that people crossing the channel for a year or so have known that they could be sent to Rwanda. And, yet, what we’re seeing right now on our screens this morning on BBC Breakfast is people still prepared to take that risk. They are not deterred.”
Tomlinson, clearly uncomfortable, pushed back arguing that “the deterrent effect” would take time, citing as an example the effect of a scheme by the government to target Albanian migrants: “Those coming from Albania, the numbers are down by more than 90%. Hardly anyone is getting on a small boat now from Albania because the deterrent effect has come in.”
Kay replied: “We’ve seen pictures this morning, Mr Tomlinson, right now of people from Afghanistan, from South Sudan, from Eritrea, boarding a boat this very morning at this moment to come to the UK. Even though they know your bill has passed, even though they know they could be sent to Rwanda, they are not deterred.”
The minister said: “Well, I’m telling you about the Albania scheme as an example of the deterrent effect. And those coming across from Albania are down by more than 90 percent. You’re right. There has been an increase in numbers, largely down to a tenfold increase in vulnerable Vietnamese migrants being, frankly, traded across by the evil criminal smuggling gangs.”
The Home Office’s latest figures, released quietly as Sunak delivered a speech ahead of the legislative debate on Monday about his Rwanda plan, reveal a 24 percent increase in Channel crossings over last year.
Sky News relayed reports from French media soon after Tomlinson’s exchange on BBC Breakfast that five migrants had died Tuesday morning in their attempt to cross the channel.
Watch above on BBC Breakfast.
