WATCH: Labour minister faces tough GB News grilling on migration

GB News

Labour MP Emma Reynolds faced a tough grilling from GB News presenter Ellie Costello over the government's migration strategy amid record Channel crossings.The exchange came as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visits Albania to announce an expanded crackdown on migrant smuggling gangs in the Balkans.READ THE FULL STORY HERE

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00:00Have you already failed, though, in that mission to smash the gangs?

00:03Because it looks as though it's set to be a record-breaking year for people crossing the channel.

00:0812,000 people have crossed already so far this year.

00:12I mean, potentially, we're looking at 50,000 people crossing in 2025.

00:19Well, look, we've only been in power for nine months,

00:23but we have already set up Border Security Command,

00:26which is a new agency, to ensure we've got the intelligence and the measures in place to crack down on those gangs.

00:34We've already had some successes in recent weeks with a Turkish gang that we were able to root out.

00:40So, look, there's still more to do.

00:42And as the Prime Minister set out on Monday, what people care about, what we're hearing from people,

00:48is that they don't want uncontrolled immigration.

00:51Under the last government, we had net migration of nearly a million people.

00:55That is putting great pressure on communities and it is, you know, putting pressure on the bonds that bond us together as a society.

01:03So, we are intent on doing something about it.

01:07As the Prime Minister set out the immigration white paper and the plan for doing precisely that earlier this week.

01:13I mean, that speech, though, has been criticised by some of your own colleagues, hasn't it?

01:19I mean, it's been the island...

01:20You talked about the dangers of becoming an island of strangers,

01:23which some people said, you know, was reminiscent of an Enoch Powell speech,

01:28the Rivers of Blood speech.

01:31It's dangerous territory for the Prime Minister, this, isn't it, amongst his own backbenchers.

01:36He's coming out with things that a lot of your own party don't like.

01:39Well, you know, the Prime Minister and the government have rejected those comparisons.

01:46We are talking about ensuring that we have a system that controls the numbers coming in.

01:52But at the same time, we obviously recognise that diversity in our society is a strength.

01:59We had people come here in the post-war period to help rebuild the country.

02:03But net migration of nearly a million people is too many,

02:08and we need to control the borders and bring the numbers down

02:10so that the pressure on communities is not unsustainable.

02:14I'm a renalist.

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