Ed Davey demands APOLOGY from Nigel Farage as he blames 'Brexit' for migrant crisis: 'They caused this problem!'

WATCH NOW: Sir Ed Davey demands Farage and the Tories apologise for Brexit

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GB NEWS

Georgia Pearce

By Georgia Pearce


Published: 28/08/2025

- 10:11

The Reform UK leader has warned of a 'genuine threat to public order' due to the 'invasion' of illegal migrants

Sir Ed Davey has demanded an "apology" from Nigel Farage and the Conservatives as he laid blame on "Brexit" for Britain's surging migrant crisis.

Speaking to GB News, the Liberal Democrats leader claimed they "caused the problem" of record-breaking illegal migration numbers by campaigning for Brexit.


Hitting out at the migrant crisis, Mr Davey stated: "The truth is, the small boats is a sign of policy failure, and the Conservatives to blame. Actually, Nigel Farage is to blame.

"Before we left the EU, before Brexit, we had a returns agreement with every European country, which meant we could, through the Dublin Convention, automatically return people on small boats, and now that is broken."

Ed Davey, Nigel Farage

Ed Davey has demanded an 'apology' from Nigel Farage as he blamed 'Brexit' for the surging migrant crisis

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GB NEWS / PA

He added: "We don't have that legal power anymore, and the French and others have made it very difficult for us to return these people in the small boats. It's got far, far worse, and we didn't have this problem before Brexit."

Taking aim at Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Mr Davey fumed: "Nigel Farage has been very vocal, hasn't he, over the summer. We should start with an apology and the Conservatives should apologise.

"They caused this problem, they have wasted billions of pounds and all these people are protesting. They should be protesting at Nigel Farage and the Conservatives who caused this chaos."

Asked by host Ellie Costello for his verdict on a review by the Refugee Council, which has proposed a "targeted, one-off scheme" to give illegal migrants "temporary legal status", Mr Davey backed the scheme.

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Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage has said there is a 'genuine threat to public order' due to the 'invasion' of illegal migrants

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PA

The Lib Dems leader told GB News: "I think it's a very good idea. The Liberal Democrats have long argued that people waiting months and months for asylum applications, having to be housed in hotels at great expense to the taxpayer, should actually be asked to work.

"And therefore rather than costing us, can actually contribute to our economy and to the Exchequer. It seems a sensible approach."

Weighing in on the use of asylum hotels, Mr Davey made clear that his party have "long argued" that the policy is a "Tory mistake".

He explained: "The Liberal Democrats have long argued that these asylum hotels are a sign of the mistakes of the Conservatives, the failure of the Conservatives over immigration.

Ed Davey

Mr Davey told GB News that granting illegal migrants temporary status is a 'sensible idea'

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GB NEWS

"They, first of all, failed to process asylum applications quickly enough. Indeed, they deliberately created this backlog, which led to the hotels in the first place. The hotels are the Conservatives fault."

Highlighting the many solutions to stopping the small boats crisis, Mr Davey concluded that the Government needs "international cooperation" alongside other factors to end the crossings.

He said: "If we're going to now solve that and prevent that mistake going on and costing us all a fortune, I think things like not just processing the applications more quickly, but getting people to actually work and contribute seems a sensible way forward.

"It's not the only thing we need to do. We do need a lot of international cooperation, we've got to stop the small boats in the first place. But in terms of dealing with the asylum hotels, this is definitely one way we should look at it."

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