Conservative MP Joe Robertson has called on the Labour Government to explain what it is doing to prepare for new illegal migrant routes to the UK after a lifeboat crew in his constituency intercepted a mega-dinghy.
Speaking to GB News, the representative for the Isle of Wight urged the Home Office to “come clean” on whether they believe new routes are opening up for illegal migrants.
On Sunday evening, hundreds of protesters descended on Portsmouth after a small boat containing asylum seekers docked on the south coast of England.
Around 500 demonstrators are believed to have joined the protest in the area, with some clashing with police at the scene.
Discussing the crossing, Mr Robertson warned that the new route could be “setting a precedent” for people smugglers to send small boats from further along the coastline.
He told GB News: “So what’s particularly remarkable here is that a new route has been used, but it appears that it may now be setting a precedent for people smugglers to send small, actually very large boats off, not from the Calais area where the crossing is around 30 miles, but from the Cherbourg area where the crossing is 70 to 80 miles.
“I think the Home Office need to come clean here and say whether it’s their assessment that new routes are opening up, or whether they think it’s a one-off.”
The Tory MP called on the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to “tell us what their response is” to the incident.
He said: “The Home Secretary, the Government need to tell us what their response is. My analysis is such that there is a new route opening up, but ultimately it doesn’t really matter what I think.
“It really does matter what the Government think, because they are supposed to be responding, and just leaving it to lifeboat volunteers, who don’t want to get involved in this – they didn’t sign up to do the government’s job of policing our borders – they signed up to save lives.”
Mr Robertson accused the Government of being “asleep at the wheel” on the UK’s migrant crisis.
He argued: “And while the Government is asleep at the wheel and doesn’t really know what’s happening, it’s communities on the Isle of Wight and Hampshire and elsewhere are having to pick up the problem.
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“I would start by acknowledging there’s a problem. Stop going on and on about ‘the Tory Government that failed on this.'”
Mr Robertson acknowledged that when the Tories were in power, they “didn’t do enough” to really tackle the issue.
He told GB News: “I accept the last Tory government didn’t do enough, I accept Labour are in power now.
“The numbers may be coming down this year, but if the people smugglers have found new routes, they may well be going up next year.
“The Government needs to grow up, recognise they’re in charge now, and tackle it, and acknowledge that they might have a far bigger problem on their hands.”
Mr Robertson suggested that Labour must “leave the ECHR” and reinstate measures similar to that of the Rwanda scheme.
He said: “I would leave the ECHR, that is the Conservative policy. But there’s another thing I’d do as well: find a third country, like Rwanda, in order to have an agreement to deport these people to.
“France don’t want them back, won’t have them back, and their countries of origin very often won’t have them back. You can’t fly a plane into somewhere that simply won’t let them land.
“But if you have a returns deal with a third country, then you’ve got an agreement. You can deport them quickly, and there’s your deterrent and I would strongly suspect, in fact, I’m absolutely certain the numbers would start to decline.”
A Government spokesman said of the protest: “We condemn the intimidating and thuggish behaviour we are seeing tonight.
“The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy, but it must never cross a line into disorder.
“We thank the emergency services who are working to safely manage this situation.”
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