THE incompetence of ministers is to blame for the Channel migrants crisis, according to Labour’s Shadow Business Secretary.
Jonathan Reynolds was speaking about the Government unveiling of a proposed illegal migration bill to tackle the small boats crisis.
Asked about deportation deals, he told GB News: “You need them in place, because where are you going to return people to who shouldn’t be in this country, if you have an effective system in place?
“The Government has a very poor relationship with our European neighbours across the board but I think the crucial thing is, regardless of where you put people in, what agreements are in place, are you processing the claims and finding out who has the right to claim asylum in the UK and who doesn’t?
“And until they do that, I think everything else, quite frankly, is a gimmick.”
He told Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster during Breakfast on GB News: “They need to accept some responsibility for forever promising us that they will take action and never delivering.
“For once, why don’t they, instead of over-promising and under-delivering, just get on and make a difference and stop trying to play this for the politics?
“They’re embarrassed by their record, which is why you have those headlines today.”
He continued: “The comments from the Prime Minister are disgraceful. At an absolute minimum, if they were processing at the Home Office the same number of claims at the same rate of claims as existed under the last Labour government, they wouldn’t have this problem to begin with.
“It is their incompetence which lies behind this and everything else is a distraction.
“People want to focus on the criminal gangs and the exploitation and put real resources into law and order and tackling criminal activity, rather than things like Rwanda which let’s be clear haven’t solved the problem.
“We’re here again, having the same argument, saying that it’s people who want an open door policy is frankly, ridiculous.”
Mr Reynolds added: “The Prime Minister, he has to be better than that we all expect better than from the Prime Minister.
“But ultimately he’s back in this position because his policies, the things he has promised in the past, and the whole Government, this applies to you too, it hasn’t delivered.
“So we’re back to where we’ve been many, many times before and that is what they need to recognise, it’s not our fault. They’ve got their own way.
“They’ve got a majority of 80, for crying out loud. They can do what they want, but they’re not delivering and that is the core problem here.”
