Keir Starmer's 'gimmick' migrant exchange deal torn apart by Chris Philp: 'We handed Rwanda to him on a plate!'

Delivering his verdict on the deal, Philp told GB News host Camilla Tominey: "This so-called deal, it's really a bit of a gimmick in my view.

"Only six per cent of illegal immigrants crossing the Channel will get sent back to France, the other 94 per cent will get to stay in the UK. Obviously, having 94 per cent of illegal immigrants staying in the UK will not act as any deterrent at all."

Comparing the deal to Starmer's previous mission to "smash the gangs", Philp pointed out that the phrase is "barely used" by the Prime Minister anymore.

Philp stated: "It's another gimmick, just like Keir Starmer's smash the gangs gimmick a year or so ago, which you'll notice he never mentions anymore, because so far this year, we've seen record numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel, the highest number in history so far this year.

"I'm afraid this so called deal, this gimmick last week, is going to make no difference to that whatsoever."

Camilla then grilled the Conservative Party's previous efforts to tackle the migrant crisis and their own "gimmicks", telling Philp: "The Tories were constantly banging on about stopping the boats and smashing the gangs, and it must have been a gimmick when you were doing it because you didn't do either, did you?"

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Philp responded: "In 2023 we actually got the small boat numbers down by about 30 per cent, so that was quite a big step in the right direction. And we then had the second step in the plan was to basically remove 100 per cent of arrivals the minute their feet touched the shore using the Rwanda scheme.

"It was ready to go last summer, just after the election, it was handed to Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper on a plate, and what did they do? They cancelled it just a few days before it was due to start.

"And as a consequence, instead of continuing the downward trend immigration across the channel, illegal immigration has surged by over 40 per cent since the election, and it's now been the worst year in history, thanks to their ineptitude."

Asked by Camilla about Macron's claim during his state visit that people had been "sold a lie" on Brexit, he said: "I don't think politicians in any country should denigrate the results of democratic elections, whether those are referenda or national elections.

"I think any politician of any colour and in any country should respect elections when they happen, and respect the views of the public. To say, ‘oh, they made a mistake’, or all that kind of styling is actually damaging to democracy.

"So I think those words were not particularly well chosen, that on the levels of legal migration in recent years, I've said it before, I'll say it again, they have been far, far too high under successive governments for very many years."

Revealing who he believes should go in a rumoured Labour cabinet reshuffle, he said: "Keir Starmer himself should be the first to go, because he is the one who has presided himself over massive tax increases. Rachel Reeves has presided over massive tax increases.

"They lied about it before the last election, they said there weren't going to be any tax rises, then they put up massive tax rises in the budget last October, which has caused unemployment to go up. It is now 12 per cent higher and it's caused the economy to shrink for the last two months in a row."