Sunak's migration policy is 'gimmicky headline chasing' says Shadow Immigration Minister
10 March 2023, 12:57
'We don't need new laws to stop small boats' says Labour frontbencher
Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock branded the governments new migration policy as "gimmicky headline chasing" that is "about throwing red meat to Tory backbenchers rather than actually solving the problem."
Stephen Kinnock the Shadow Immigration Minister told Nick Ferrari that we actually 'don't need more legislation to stop small boats' and consequently the government's migration policy is just a weak attempt to chase headlines and please the right-wing contingent of its party.
Nick Ferrari asked Mr Kinnock: "Now that some of the dust has settled what’s your take on some of the policies outlined by Suella Braverman earlier this week?."
The Shadow Immigration Minister responded bluntly: "It won’t work, it's recycling some of the rhetoric and inflammatory language" they used last year in order to "throw red meat to tory back benchers." He suggested that they have decided to energise their tory base through the issue of immigration "rather than actually solve the problem" of small boats.
His comments come as Rishi Sunak is attending an Anglo-French summit in Paris where he is set to discuss a deal with Macron on stopping the channel crossings.
The Paris summit comes after Mr Sunak, earlier this week, outlined his plans to deter people from making illegal crossings into the UK. These plans involved a 28 day detention period followed by exportation, without the possibility of claiming asylum. Those arriving on UK beaches would either be returned to their home country, or another country such as Rwanda.
Stephen Kinnock revealed in his interview: "You don’t actually need more legislation to get more recourses into our national crime agency so they can crack down on the gangs." Neither, he said, do you need legislation to, "rewire the home office" to "deal with the back log."
The labour front bencher elaborated on the needlessness of the policy: "Getting the returns deal with France is about quiet diplomacy and authorised routes" and about trying to get "the Afghanistan route actually working."
These other measures he said, "are not headline chasing gimmicky things that might get everyone excited for a few days, these are actually the quiet hard yard nitty gritty of government."
Read More: Andrew Marr: Lets focus more on the UK's broken childcare system and less on Gary Lineker
