A former Labour MP has admitted that Labour will struggle to tackle the problem of immigration, saying Keir Starmer would also admit that this would not be ‘an easy problem to fix.’
Sîon Simon also hit out at Nigel Farage, saying illegal immigration wasn’t a problem which could be fixed by ‘a gimmick on a boat’, telling him to 'grow up'.
Speaking on GB News Sîon Simon said: “I'm not at all surprised that Nigel has decided to make the French the enemy and the problem when it comes to the small boats, but it's actually not the French is it? It's not the French, it's not the Europeans. It's a global problem and it's being done to those migrants and to us by very, very serious, very nasty organised crime - the worst kind of international criminals. Those are the actual problem.
"The problem is not that the French government is going behind these people in boats, escorting them.
“If there is a deal to be done, the Tories will have done a terrible one for sure. And that's why the Labour manifesto says very clearly we'll renegotiate our deals with the French.
“What Nigel is saying is take all the money back from the French. Is that going to stop the boats? No, of course it's not. It's not going to make any difference. It's just going to make it worse.
“I don't want to see illegal migration any more than any more than anybody else.
“Our borders should be respected. There is a proper way to enter this country and there are certain people, actually the vast majority of people in the world, who are not allowed to enter this country unless they’re on holiday and that's the way that it shouldn't be.
“And that's why what we should be doing is investing money in 1000 more hardcore police officers, intelligence officers, not giving money to the French government but relationships with European intelligence and police agencies to really crack down.
“The failure of any other European country to deal with the issue is the weakness of [Labour’s] argument. It's also the massive weakness in the Nigel Farage argument.
“I think Nigel even said ‘send in the Royal Marines’. I mean, grow up Nigel and don't use the Royal Marines, for your silly political status.
“I think if we’re having a sensible, grown up discussion about it, I think if you talked to Keir Starmer, he would admit also that this is not an easy problem that Labour is just going to easily simply fix overnight, that nobody else has been able to fix.
“It is a difficult problem all over the world that would be difficult for Labour to fix, but they have to do a better job than the Tories. And frankly, they’ll do a better job than Nigel on his boat talking nonsense.“
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