Watch the moment GB News star Martin Daubney locks horns with Labour councillor for Lambeth Martin Abrams about the civil unrest unfolding in Britain.
Protesters from both sides of the argument clashed in Epping yesterday with ten arrests made as Britons grow increasingly furious about the number of hotels housing asylum seekers popping up all over the country.
Abrams stressed on GB News that mass migration is not the reason behind Britain’s problems and pointed to growing inequality.
“A lot of this anger is misdirected. We’ve had 40 years of neoliberal policies in this country that have reduced public services and housing to absolute catastrophe”, he said.
GB NEWS
|Martin Daubney accused the Labour councillor of 'cherry picking'
“We don’t have enough housing to go around, our NHS isn’t working and people are understandably angry. That is not a result of migrants.”
“It is”, Martin chimed in, adding: “It’s a result of open borders, failing to stop boats, failing to smash the gangs.
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“People are feeling powerless and concerned. They go out to protest and they are called fascists.”
Abrams said austerity has seen inequality explode in Britain with the number of billionaires surging since 1990.
GB NEWS
|Abrams called for more to be done to address inequality, which he believes is at the heart of last night's unrest in Epping
“Billionaires aren’t causing these riots”, Martin argued.
The Labour man hit back: “What is causing these riots is the amount of inequality. People can’t afford to put food on the table.”
COMMENT NOW - Is inequality the root cause behind unrest in Epping?
Martin said: “They’re angry because of alleged sexual assaults in their constituency by people who are put in hotels for free at the taxpayers’ expense and they never had a say on it and when they say they’ve had enough, they’re called far-right.”
Abrams told Martin he does not agree with the use of asylum hotels and instead advocated for more safe and legal routes for migrants to make use of as opposed to illegal small boat Channel crossings.
GB NEWS
|Martin Abrams clashed with Martin Daubney on GB News
“They can actually contribute to our society. Net migration is a net positive to our society. Migrants contribute more than they take out, that’s a fact”, he argued.
Martin said Abrams’s argument was a “total myth” as the figure is skewed by rich corporate types who have emigrated to Britain from countries like America.
“You’re comparing the wealthiest Americans, Australians, Canadians, Swiss, with those at the very bottom, ostensibly from the Middle East and North Africa”, he said.
“It’s a total myth to say net migration is a benefit. You’re cherry picking data. You look at those coming over illegally and claiming asylum, they are a net drain on the exchequer. Fact.”
Abrams demanded more action from his party, saying the Government must step up its efforts to build council houses.
GB News’s Political Editor Christopher Hope asked where the “magic money tree” is that can make such a demand possible.
The councillor pointed to the aforementioned billionaires, calling for a wealth tax and “more progressive taxation”.
Martin said: “More tax. No mention about controlling immigration, just more tax.”