Andy Burnham has been urged to “leave the ECHR” as fears over Britain’s migrant crisis continues to grow.
Speaking to GB News, Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith expressed concern for UK borders after 50,000 illegal migrants stormed the Spanish border yesterday.
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Asked by host Dawn Neesom whether those migrants could possibly reach Britain, Mr Griffith admitted: “I fear so, yes.”
Tens of thousands of migrants have swarmed to Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in north Africa, triggering Madrid to deploy the military.
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Footage circulating on social media shows masses of people swimming up to Ceuta’s beaches, coming across from surrounding African nations such as Morocco.
As the migrant crisis continues to rise in the UK, Mr Griffith hit out at the millions being spent in France, despite officers being told “not to intervene” and stop the boats.
He said: “What have we learned over the last week alone? My colleague Chris Philp has highlighted how French gendarmes seem to have orders not to actually stop the boats, despite the fact we’re spending over £2million every single day.
“You can be sure if those small boats were carrying a piece of looted French artwork, that the Gendarmerie would have no issue stopping them at all.”
The Tory MP warned the Prime Minister the Government can only “get a grip” of the crisis with a “proper plan”.
He explained: “You’re only going to get to grips with this issue with a proper plan. A proper plan has to involve, I’m afraid, leaving the ECHR.
“That’s now the Conservative policy, preventing anybody who arrives here illegally from ever claiming the right to stay here permanently.”
Mr Griffith stressed: “Incentives matter, and if the incentives are to make your way first into the European Union and then across the Channel to this country.
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“And then unfortunately, under this Government’s policies, you will be allowed to stay, you will have access to public funds, you could have a path to citizenship. I’m afraid we should expect the waves to continue to come.”
Challenging Mr Griffiths, host Stephen Dixon pointed to the Tory record on the migrant crisis and how their Government “couldn’t fix it when they were in power”.
Mr Griffiths responded: “I’m not here to defend the past 14 years, or whatever period people choose, of a Cabinet I wasn’t part of, and most of the Conservative leadership now were not part of.
“What you need is a proper end to end plan, having detailed work, taking advice from King’s Counsel and others. We do as part of that plan have to leave the ECHR. Without that, Britain won’t have the ability to make its own laws and tackle this problem.”
Noting the Rwanda scheme, spearheaded the by Tory Government, Mr Griffith made clear: “Things like the Rwanda scheme were frustrated not by the Conservative Party in Government, they were frustrated by Labour lords, leftie bishops and the judicial system.
“Which is why it’s fundamental having tried that, having explored all of those options, it is clear that you need a proper plan to do that.”
He admitted there was “too much focus on tactics” and “not on the strategy” when the Tories were trying to solve the crisis.
He said: “When we were in Government, there was too much focus on tactics rather than the ultimate strategy. But remember, we were being opposed at that point by the Labour Government.
“They’re now talking about some of the very same measures, and of course, they will have our support if they bring forward proper measures that will solve this problem.”
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