Migrant crisis would end 'very quickly' if they were returned to France, ex-Immigration Minister tells GB News

GB News

Sir Keir Starmer has been scolded for his handling of Britain's migrant crisis by ex-Immigration Minister Kevin Foster, as he claimed the Labour Government has "no real strategy".Speaking to GB News, Foster stated that although "smash the gangs is a great election slogan", the plan "simply isn't working".FULL STORY HERE.

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00:00Absolutely, Martin. And I expect we can probably diarise sometime later this month to be talking

00:05about it going through 30,000 at the rates of arrivals we are seeing. And as you've touched on

00:11already, this is the highest rate of arrivals we've seen at this point in any year since the

00:15small boat crisis began. It's a clear sign that smash the gangs, you know, a great slogan for a

00:21general election campaign, but not a real strategy for government just simply isn't working. The

00:27government needs to look at a wider strategy across all the areas from what attracts people

00:32to do this, to how they're processed, to then how they're removed alongside prosecuting the gangs

00:38involved in this work. But in many cases, they just seem to be doubling down on what their strategy

00:44already is. And that just isn't working. That's worth pointing out, of course, Kevin Foster,

00:48that when the Conservative Party were in power since the small boats crisis began in 2018,

00:53it was also, let's face it, a bit of a disaster. Rishi Sunak hung by his own petard when he promised

01:01to stop the boats. Of course, he couldn't. And that did for your government in part, a large part of

01:06it, I would countenance. But to today, there doesn't seem to be any slowdown in this tide. In fact,

01:13it's going up. What needs to be done, Kevin Foster? Of course, you no doubt say we need a deterrent

01:17like Rwanda. But look at these pictures on our screens now. Illegal immigrants simply up to their

01:23knees in water, not a copper inside. Nobody on the French side seems to be lifting a finger to

01:28stop it. Is it time to stop sending money? Stop LaDosh? Well, I think, Martin, what we need is not

01:35just having Rwanda as part of it, is it a deterrent? And yes, that would have had an impact when we've

01:39seen numbers start to fall. But it's looking at the whole process we have. In fact, what we've just

01:43seen featured in the United States, you know, how you, for example, when people arrive, what you do

01:49with them, how you hold them, how you make sure you process them quickly and then look to remove

01:52them. And by the way, it's not just Donald Trump doing that. Greece has done that with large

01:57accommodation centres. You referred to a couple of the plans that have been in the past. Again,

02:02those sorts of plans need to be driven forward. Reviewing our courts. Once you've actually decided

02:07you want to remove someone, how quickly can you do that? And that's when issues like the ECHR and,

02:12you know, the famous Article 8 right to a chicken nugget start coming into play. What changes

02:18should be made to our laws to make that more possible? And then, yes, working with our neighbours,

02:23because if we could return people to France, that would end this very quickly. Although some of the

02:28deals being talked about seem to involve us potentially taking people one way for sending

02:32people back, which could undermine that idea. And I know also other countries in Europe, like Italy and

02:39Greece, have objected to that idea. So it's yet to be seen. Actually, France could push ahead

02:44with that if that's what the UK wanted to do. So we do have to have a general approach to this.

02:51There's not just one solution, but we can certainly see that just saying smash the gangs isn't working.

02:56I mean, this notion of one in, one out. I mean, a lot of people watching this year would say it should be

03:01nodding and all out. The notion that we can deport somebody who comes here illegally, which,

03:07by the way, the French patently failed to stop them coming. In return, we have to take an asylum

03:12seeker from France as some kind of tit for tat deal shows how broken the system is. It's just

03:18time to admit the French is no friend of ours when it comes to controlling immigration.

03:21There's nothing in it for them, apart from half a billion quid a year.

03:26Well, I think, Martin, there's also they actually need to look at the impact this is having in the

03:30north of France. Lawlessness, criminality, shootings, stabbings. There's a lot of people

03:35around the part of Calais who are absolutely fed up with the criminality this has brought to France.

03:40It's not just residents in Dover who've suffered the impact of this. It's residents in and around

03:44Calais. You know, people who can't store a boat without having to check that someone's not in it.

03:49People who can't drive a lorry in the air without it being attacked. People see an absolute

03:52criminality in their communities. And it's really time that those on the French side actually see

03:58that resolving this for us also is about resolving those problems for them.

04:02I'm not sure President Macron will do that, but perhaps as we come closer to a French presidential

04:07election, there'll be much more of a drive that actually why is France happy to host this lawlessness

04:12in its territory? And we're actually working together with us, not on a one in one out,

04:17but perhaps working together with us that someone who shouldn't be coming to our country,

04:22who has spurned the chance to claim asylum in their country, is being removed perhaps to a third

04:27country or removed home. That's something actually that both of us could work on. And that should

04:32make quite a difference to this scenario. Whereas I think a one in one out arrangement, well, what

04:36happens if 10 of us are in a boat and some of us, you know, go, a few of our friends stay,

04:41do our friends who apply get to come because we went in a boat? That could be a really bizarre incentive

04:46created. Yeah, it's an...

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