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".
Macron said: "In this unstable world, hope for a better life elsewhere is legitimate. But we cannot allow our countries' rules for taking in people to be flouted and criminal networks to cynically exploit the hopes of so many individuals with so little respect for human life.
"France and the UK have a shared responsibility to address irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness."
Ann Widdecombe has hit out at Keir Starmer's 'naive' migrant deal with France
PA / GB News
Delivering her verdict on Keir Starmer's efforts to tackle the migrant crisis, Ann Widdecombe accused the Prime Minister of "simpering towards the EU".
Widdecombe stated: "Certainly the attitude of this Government has been simpering towards the EU in general, and it does appall me that we're still trying to rely on France to solve the problem of the boats.
"We have given them [France] huge amounts of money, hundreds of millions, and and they've done absolutely nothing for it.
"French policemen are often photographed just standing on the shore, watching as the boats leave France."
Critcising Starmer's planned "one in, one out" migrant deal with Macron, Widdecombe fumed: "I think Starmer's approach is generally naive. I think the one in, one out deal, I don't understand at all.
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French President Emmanuel Macron said both France and the UK have 'a shared responsibility to address irregular migration'
PA"It means if you return an illegal migrant to France, you have to take a legal one. So one in, one out means no progress at all, and I think it's ridiculous."
Addressing Macron's speech in the Palace of Westminster on the migrant crisis, Widdecombe admitted Macron was "right" to blame the UK for the record number of crossings.
Widdecombe told GB News: "There is one thing that Macron has said which is right, when he says that the fault lies with us, because we are one of the most attractive countries in the world and we're the easiest country in which to disappear.
"We don't practice detention, we don't have national identity cards, but we do have a flourishing underground economy, and that combination is what attracts people to come here."
Widdecombe said Macron's verdict on Britain's migrant crisis is 'embarrassing' for Keir Starmer
GB News
Widdecombe added: "The message that Britain sends out is if you come to Britain, you're very unlikely to be removed.
"That is the message that goes out, and until we reverse that message, we will lose this battle."
Asked by host Patrick Christys if Macron's stance on illegal migration "embarrassing" for Starmer, Widdecombe agreed: "All I can say is Macron is some mate, given that he hasn't helped at all with the crisis, but yes, of course it's embarrassing for Starmer.
"But to be perfectly fair, it isn't just this Government which has made Britain so attractive. It has been a magnet for illegal migration for decades, and it has been the fault of successive Governments."
She concluded: "I've been saying this since 1999, when I was shadow Home Secretary, that we make it too easy to disappear.
"I've said it time and time again, and successive Governments, Conservative, Labour, have done nothing about it."
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