'The deterrent was there!' Top Tory defends Rwanda plan after being accused of creating 'migration crisis' by Reform

Sitting down with Chief Political Correspondent Katherine Forster, Mr Yusuf told the People's Channel the Tories "created" the migration crisis in Britain.

Reform UK's Home Affairs Spokesman said: "The Tories basically brought in 12 million people gross, six million people net over their 14 years in power. They were the ones who actually created this situation, where almost 200,000 people now have turned up on our beaches uninvited over the last eight years.

"And that's not an invasion, because I know some people will say you shouldn't use that word - it is an invasion, that's exactly what it is, and it's completely unfair on the British people."

Asked by host Martin Daubney whether he believes Mr Yusuf's plan will "hold water", Sir Mel said: "Well, one of the things I do think is it's all very well for Zia Yusuf to say there's this invasion that's happened because of what happened in the past, and yet welcoming Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman to the fold as part of the spearhead of sorting this problem out."

Outlining Tory plans to leave the ECHR as part of their latest illegal migration policy, he added: "We do need to have a clear deterrent in place in order to stop illegal migration, and we've made it clear that we will leave the ECHR, which is part of the problem.

"We have also made it very clear that those migrants that come to our shores illegally will be promptly removed."

Reflecting on previous Tory policy, the Shadow Chancellor argued the Rwanda plan meant they "had a deterrent in place" before being booted out by Labour, but it was scrapped by Sir Keir Starmer.

He told GB News: "We, of course, did have a plan when we were in office, the Rwanda plan, that would have brought in that deterrent, but it wasn't actually operationalised in time with the general election getting in the way.

"But absolutely, we've got to get on top of this, and we had the clear plans to do so."

Criticising Labour for taking "no action" to stop the Channel crossings despite the Rwanda scheme being ready for operation, the Tory argued: "We did have flights ready to go at the end of July, but an election came in the meantime so those were not operationalised.

"But we know deterrence works because if you go back to that time, we had a lot of illegal migrants in the north of Ireland going across to the Republic, because they were in fear of being removed under our policies.

"We had a lull in the numbers coming across in Dover because that policy was coming in, and they wanted to wait for a Labour Government because they knew that Labour would take no action, which indeed is precisely what was happening."

Sir Mel was then challenged by GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope, who argued Sir Keir Starmer cancelled the Rwanda scheme because it "wasn't going to work" due to there being "too many holes" in the legislation.

Sir Mel disagreed, saying: "Well, as I say, we had flights ready to go, so the deterrent was there. And in terms of proof points as to it working, we did have a lot of illegal migrants moving from Northern Ireland out of our jurisdiction because the Rwanda Bill had gone through.

"We had a lull in those coming across the Channel at the time, because those flights were getting ready and they waited for a Labour Government, so clearly there was a strong deterrent effect."

Detailing his plans for Reform's immigration policy at his press conference earlier today, Mr Yusuf vowed to "secure our borders and stop the invasion".

He declared: "Decades of Tory and Labour betrayal have broken Britain. There is a national security emergency at our borders, an epidemic of knife crime on our streets, public services collapsing under the weight of mass immigration and Islamist extremism being allowed to spread.

"Only Reform UK will do what is needed to fix our country. We will secure our borders, deport those here illegally, get the knives off our streets and make you feel safe."

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