Dover's Parliamentary candidate says government can't get on top of illegal immigration

It comes as an island in the Atlantic Ocean thousands of miles from Kent could be about to play host to the Government's next asylum seeker policy.

Transcript

00:00 So, Mike, Ascension Island was an idea dismissed a while ago. So, why couldn't it work? Some

00:05 would say surely this is better than housing migrants in the Kent coast in hotels or out

00:11 the UK coast in barges. So, I think what this shows us again is that

00:18 the Conservatives have run out of ideas. This was a plan that was rejected years ago because

00:25 it's unworkable, just like Rwanda is unworkable and the barges are quite simply a gimmick.

00:32 They only hold 500 people. In Dover, we see that number crossing on many, many weekends.

00:39 So, really, they're running out of ideas. And so they bring in these gimmicks to try

00:43 and grab the headlines, to try and trick people into thinking that they're actually doing

00:48 something about this. But they've lost control of the borders and the processing of those

00:52 that arrive is completely broken. So, now we're seeing record backlogs.

00:58 The government say that they're bringing forward alternative accommodation. They are bringing

01:02 options to the table, if not Rwanda, Ascension Island, if not these barges. And they say

01:06 that it's actually a tried and tested approach. So, what would you suggest instead?

01:11 There is a really simple fix to this and it's sensible, it's pragmatic. It takes some hard

01:19 work, some quiet diplomacy behind the scenes, which the Conservatives refuse to do. So,

01:27 when Labour get to government, if we have that privilege, then we'll invest in a dedicated

01:32 cross-border policing unit to get on top and smash those criminal gangs. But most importantly,

01:38 speed up the processing, which essentially takes more decision makers at the Home Office

01:44 so that those that shouldn't be here are deported and those that need the help receive it.

01:49 Unfortunately, Conservatives can't get to grips with this backlog, which is why they

01:53 need more accommodation. So, they bring in gimmicks like the barges and Rwanda.

01:59 Cross-border policing would still be something that would take a lot of time, I imagine,

02:03 to implement. And what would you do in the meantime for those migrants that need home

02:07 shelter now? What would you do for them now? Because that's what we imagine the government

02:11 is trying to do now. House the people now. The cross-border policing wouldn't solve that

02:16 issue right now. Well, this is a problem that's been growing

02:22 under the Conservative government. It's got worse and worse over the last five years,

02:28 and they could have started getting on top of it years ago with dedicating policing units,

02:33 which by the way, they voted against in Parliament when Labour tabled an amendment to their gimmick

02:38 bill. And really, essentially, it comes down to speeding up the processing so that people

02:44 don't need that accommodation. But of course, we don't know what mess we're going to inherit

02:49 at the next general election if we have the privilege of winning. So, we don't know how

02:54 many people we're going to need to house. But of course, as soon as we get into government,

02:59 we'll put in these sensible, pragmatic plans.