The Home Secretary has been accused of “hoodwinking” Britons while a Tory MP delivered a devastating attack on her visa crackdown.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced she has imposed visa restrictions on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the first time after it refused to take back criminals and illegal migrants on Saturday.
Two other African countries, Namibia and Angola, later changed their position and agreed to accept deportees from Britain after the Government threatened the nations with similar measures.
But the move has come under fire given the trio of nations are accountable for 14 illegal migrants in the year to June.
In that time, a mere 11 illegal migrants came from the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), three from Angola and none from Namibia.
Joe Robertson, who is the Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight East, joined GB News and was quick to tear into Labour’s record, citing Ms Mahmood’s “pathetic” visa crackdown.
Host Gloria de Piero told the MP: “I don’t think anyone would say that the first year of the Labour Government and its record on people coming in illegally on small boats is anything other than absolutely terrible, absolutely catastrophic.”
But she also highlighted the Tories’ own record on the matter, saying: “Shabana Mahmood is going far further than the last Conservative Government ever did.”
In response, Mr Robertson said: “When the Home Secretary announced her proposals in the House of Commons in November, December time, I was there.
Britons ‘will not stand for it’, a Tory MP told the People’s Channel
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“I support a lot of what she said she’s going to do. But there is a huge hole in her plan, and that is what to do with failed asylum seekers who cannot be returned to their home country because there is no agreement, there is no means of getting them there.
“We’re talking about people from Afghanistan, people from Iran and people from Eritrea.”
He continued: “Now, the previous Government had a third party arrangement, a third country where there would be an agreement that those failed asylum seekers would go there.
“She has no plan for that. She scrapped the Rwanda plan and has nothing to replace it.
BRITAIN’S MIGRANT CRISIS – READ MORE:
Mr Pakes defended his Government’s record on migration
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“She still hasn’t told us who she’s talking to and when a deal may be struck, she’s ruled out Rwanda, the only country in the world she said she will not talk to.
“So until we know what she’s going to do with failed asylum seekers who come from some of the most populous countries in terms of origin, that the source of the origin country of the immigrants.
“We can’t take her plan seriously. And instead what she did, what the government did, announced on the 28th of December that they had done a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Namibia.
“Do you know how many illegal arrivals were from those three countries last year? Fourteen.
“It’s pathetic. She’s hoodwinked the British people and they won’t stand for it.”
However, sitting opposite Mr Robertson, Labour MP Andrew Pakes defended his Government’s record, insisting it was not an easy issue to fix.
He said: “This isn’t a simple problem with a simple light switch on off question to get it right.
“It’s about patience. It’s about being serious. It’s about taking the time. Smashing the gangs is a critical part of that, as well as getting the backlogs down so we can shut hotels like it.
“We’re cracking down on it. We brought the new laws in, which started this week. We got back through the legislation to do that.
“We’ve got more people leaving the country who shouldn’t be here than we have done under the previous Government. It’s a work in progress, but we’re focused on it for this year.”