Keir Starmer's reliance on France to tackle migrant crisis is 'appalling', Widdecombe says

GB News

Sir Keir Starmer's "one in, one out" migrant deal has been branded "naive" by Ann Widdecombe as the Prime Minister seeks to secure a new agreement with France.French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in the UK on Tuesday for a three-day state visit, where he declared both the UK and France have a "shared responsibility" to address "irregular migration".FULL STORY HERE.

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00:00Emmanuel Macron, I mean, I'll just pick one at random here.

00:02I'm just going to go for the Independent.

00:03I mean, Macron, we must shoulder the burden of keeping Europe safe.

00:07It appears he's, you know, supposedly we're going to get this one-in-one idea.

00:10Well, what do you make of what you've seen from this state visit so far?

00:13Is it good? Is it a little bit simpering, maybe, towards Emmanuel Macron?

00:19It's probably a bit too early to say,

00:20but certainly the attitude of this government has been simpering

00:23towards the EU in general.

00:26And it does upon me that we're still trying to rely on France

00:30to solve the problem of the boats,

00:33when, you know, we have given them huge amounts of money,

00:36hundreds of millions of pounds,

00:38and they've done absolutely nothing for it.

00:40And, I mean, they're often photographed French policemen

00:42just standing on the shore watching as the boats leave France.

00:46So, I mean, I think Starmer's approach is generally naive.

00:50I think the one-out, one-in, I don't understand at all.

00:53It means if you return an illegal migrant to France,

00:57you have to take another one.

00:58I mean, I don't mean another illegal one.

01:00You have to take a legal one.

01:01So, you know, one-in, one-out means no progress at all.

01:04So, I think it's ridiculous.

01:07But there is one thing that Macron has said which is right.

01:11And I can't believe I'm saying this,

01:12but Macron actually has got it right

01:15when he says that the fault lies with us

01:18because we are one of the most attractive countries in the world

01:22because we're the easiest country in which to disappear.

01:26We don't practice detention.

01:28We don't have national identity cards.

01:30We do have a flourishing underground economy.

01:34And that combination is what attracts people to come here

01:37because the message that Britain sends out is,

01:41if you come to Britain, you're very unlikely to be removed.

01:45That is the message that goes out.

01:48And until we reverse that message, we will lose this battle.

01:52How embarrassing is it for Sir Keir Starmer to hear that from...

01:56So, that is an outsider's perspective of Britain.

01:58We know that the Americans think it as well.

02:00That's one thing.

02:01But Emmanuel Macron is kind of like Keir...

02:03Supposedly Keir Starmer's big mate.

02:06Certainly Keir Starmer certainly wants to be his mate.

02:07How embarrassing for Sir Keir Starmer is it to hear that?

02:11Well, all I can say is some mate, given that he hasn't helped at all

02:15with the votes crisis.

02:17But yes, of course, it's embarrassing.

02:18But to be fair, to be perfectly fair,

02:21it isn't just this government which has made Britain so attractive.

02:25It has been a magnet for illegal migration for decades,

02:30and it has been the fault of successive governments.

02:32I've been saying this, Darfield, since 1999,

02:37when I was Shadow Home Secretary,

02:39that we make it too easy to disappear.

02:42I've said it time and time again.

02:44And successive governments, Conservative, Labour, Coalition,

02:48anything you like to name, just have done nothing about it.

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