'It wasn't right!' Kemi Badenoch blasts BBC for 'letting illegal migrants lecture British taxpayers'

On the panel was Dover & Deal MP and Migration Minister Mike Tapp, Tory MP for Bexhill & Battle Dr Kieran Mullan, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper, Green Party leader Zack Polanski and Reform UK's policy chief Zia Yusuf.

But Mrs Badenoch hit out at the BBC's decision, insisting that Question Time was a chance for Britons to put their questions to politicians.

She told GB News: "It's not a time for asylum seekers to ask politicians to change the law. That's a campaign.

"If the BBC wants to platform those voices, it can do it as part of a news programme or a documentary. Not for Question Time.

"I don't think that was right. I wouldn't have done it."

GB News presenter Tom Harwood asked whether the invitation to illegal migrants to openly admit that they reached Britain's shores illegally indicated that the nation was, indeed, the "soft touch of Europe".

The Tory leader said: "I've said this many, many times. We have become a country that people see as one whose rules can be exploited.

"We are a very kind country, but our rules are being exploited. That's why we've changed our policy, toughened it up.

"No asylum for people who arrive in our country illegally deporting all foreign criminals. No ifs, no buts. Ending the immigration tribunals that are just rubber-stamping these applications through.

"We've got a borders plan. We just need to toughen things up. And I've told Labour that if they do tough stuff, I will support them.

That's why I said to Shabana Mahmood, this is not enough, but it's something."

Last month, the Home Secretary announced the "biggest shake-up of the legal migration system in almost half a century" designed to make Britain more "selective".

"It's showing steps in the right direction. Our system has been taken for granted and exploited," Mrs Badenoch continued.

"It's time for us to toughen it up."

The top Tory continued: "The licence fee payers need to be treated fairly. Most people who watch BBC do so because they enjoy Antiques Roadshow, the entertainment programmes, whether it's Strictly or whatever.

"That's really what they're paying for. They don't want to be getting lectured to on their politics by people who've got a campaign to run.

"So I'm sure the BBC will will be thinking very hard about how to make sure that it is more representative, rather than trying to channel views for people who are clearly not licence fee payers."

Speaking to the People's Channel after the show, panellist Mr Yusuf said he "could not believe" what he was witnessing and had to "reassure himself" that these events actually took place.

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