'Smoke and mirrors!' Ex-Tory MP calls on Keir Starmer to send the military into the Channel to deal with the migrant crisis

The Home Office today confirmed that a second migrant was returned to France on a "one in, one out" deportation flight, despite previously having his removal blocked by the High Court.

However, GB News can reveal that at least 800 others are currently crossing the English Channel on small boats, set to arrive as soon as today.

Criticising Labour's latest attempt to secure Britain's borders, Mr Sunderland told GB News: "When Labour were in opposition, they voted against every single measure to take back control of our borders, so to suggest that Keir Starmer is serious about stopping the boats or serious about illegal immigration is complete nonsense.

"This is smoke and mirrors, and how sad is it that it's taken a US President on a State Visit to the UK to state that we could be using military capabilities to do this?

"How perverse is the fact that Keir Starmer could have come up with the idea years and years ago, but clearly he's failing."

Asked by host Dawn Neesom how "easy" it would be for the Government to deploy military enforcement, the former Tory MP declared they must do "whatever it takes" to stop the boats.

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Mr Sunderland explained: "We're always told that military capabilities are really scarce, and of course they are, but how persuasive would it be perhaps for the Royal Marines to have a high readiness intercept force to intercept the boats as they come across.

"We keep being told that we can't attach things to the boats. Of course, we know that we have technology now, which enables us to stop the boats remotely.

"When something is politically expedient enough, I believe that we must do whatever it takes to stop the boats."

Offering his solution for stopping the small boats, he argued that it is "entirely possible" for military interception to take place in the Channel.

The ex-Tory MP stated: "We know exactly where these boats are, where they're coming from, where they're traveling.

"It's entirely possible to intercept them. But let's face the facts, if we cannot legally attach anything to the boats and tow them back, then there's not much we can do.

"But if the Government is serious about stopping this, it's entirely possible for the military, for the Navy, the Army and the RAF to take a more active role in the Channel."

Warning of the scale of the "security crisis" facing Britain with the record number of migrant crossings taking place, Mr Sunderland told GB News: "Let's be clear, this is no longer just a security crisis or an immigration crisis, this is actually a military crisis.

"We know that these people pose a danger to the UK, and this is a domestic security crisis which is state sponsored.

"Many countries in the world are bringing these people across, and this is so serious that it requires immediate, in my view, military action to solve the problem."

Calling on politicians to "say it as it is" and "absolute focus" on a solution to the crisis, he concluded: "We should not be processing any of these migrants here.

"They're not asylum seekers, they're migrants. Many of these people are coming from countries that are not at war.

"There's no human rights atrocities at all in countries like Albania and Eritrea, the list goes on. And what we need today are politicians that say it as it is.

"We need politicians to stand up in the House of Commons, and if we need to leave the ECHR, so be it.

"This is a multi-layered approach now which requires absolute focus from across every machination of scale."