A furious back-and-forth broke out live on GB News as two guests locked horns over the migrant crisis.
Discussing who was to blame for the extent of the crisis, broadcaster Carole Malone attempted to correct political commentator Andy Williams.
The row broke out after it was revealed that one of the first migrants returned to France under Sir Keir Starmer’s flagship “one in, one out” deal had come back to Britain on a dinghy after a mere 29 days.
A minister has since confirmed that the man will be deported again.
“Well, it’s not good, is it?” Mr Williams admitted, discussing the migrant’s return and Labour’s record since the party’s rise to power in July 2024.
“It’s not good. But I think there’s there’s the real problem, which is all of these people coming over on small boats, and that is a real problem.”
But the pair clashed when it came to throwing blame on the former Conservative Government.
Mr Williams assigned blame to the “enormous expectation management problem” by a series of Governments, seemingly to include both Labour and Tory Cabinets.
The pair clashed over the Tories’ immigration record
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GB NEWS
He explained: “Rishi Sunak was the person who came up with this phrase ‘stop the boats’.
“Unless you take really drastic action, which says to hell with due process, to hell with the courts…”
But Ms Malone was quick to interject, saying the Conservatives had a law in place – but Mr Williams fired back just as quickly.
“The Tories had no grip on migration.”
BRITAIN’S MIGRANT CRISIS – READ MORE:
Continuing her point, Ms Malone said: “The Tories had a law in place that said anyone who came here illegally would be deported immediately.”
Believing that she was referring to the Rwanda scheme, the Tories’ plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda while their claims were processed.
“No, another law that said if you came here illegally, you’d be deported.
“And as soon as Starmer got in, not only did he dump Rwanda, he dumped that law as well.”
A migrant returned to France on the ‘one in, one out’ deal came back to Britain after just 29 days, a minister confirmed yesterday (Stock)
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PAIndeed, on his first full day as Prime Minister, Sir Keir binned off the plan, declaring the scheme “dead and buried”.
But Mr Williams hit back, saying: “I think the Tories had no grip on this whatsoever.
“Labour doesn’t have a grip on it yet, but they should have been more honest, just as they should have been about the budget and about tax. They said this is going to take time.”
Since being handed the keys to No10, Sir Keir, along with his Home Secretaries, has appeared to struggle with “smashing the criminal gangs” that his Government-in-Waiting first promised in the summer of 2024.
On Wednesday, the number of illegal arrivals on British shores overtook the total figure for 2024.
Two Border Force vessels arrived at Dover harbour, carrying 220 migrants, bringing the total so far this year to 36,956.
The figure is 70 more than the 36,816 migrants who crossed the Channel illegally the whole of last year.