‘Why didn’t you try Rwanda?’ Andrew Pierce questions Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth as he calls migrant program a ‘fiasco’

Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth was grilled about his party’s plans to tackle the migrant crisis, while GB News star Andrew Pierce questioned why Sir Keir Starmer chose not to push ahead with the Rwanda plan.

The policy, introduced by the Conservatives, saw illegal migrants making the perilous crossing across the Channel to the UK sent to Rwanda.

But Labour was always highly critical of the plan and scrapped it in one of its first acts.

“Since you guys came in, we’ve had hundreds of thousands,” Andrew said.

“There was a Rwanda plan. I know you ridiculed it, but the first thing you did was scrap it.

“Couldn’t you have at least tried to see if it had a deterrent effect?”

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Ashworth responded by calling it a “fiasco,” adding that “more journalists went to Rwanda” than there were actually asylum seekers.

“It costs £700 million and only four volunteers went to Rwanda. More journalists went to Rwanda. It is a serious problem, but the idea that you are going to solve it in four weeks when the previous government couldn’t solve it in years…”

Andrew joined the conversation and asked again, “Why didn’t you try Rwanda?”

“Rwanda was an expensive fiasco,” Ashworth said. “This is not going to fix it. The way to fix it is to go after the criminal smugglers.”

“You have to enforce immigration laws. Under the previous party, that was not done.

“I was criticised during the election campaign when I pointed out that the Tories were keeping asylum seekers in limbo, putting people in hotels without processing their applications.

“The result is that billions of pounds are being spent and people are left with no status in this accommodation forever.

“What you need to do is process claims so that people who come here can get on with their lives.”

Labour is under pressure to announce its plans to deal with the large number of illegal migrants crossing the Channel.

Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly vowed to “destroy the gangs”, referring to the criminal smugglers who help migrants attempt to cross the Channel.

Ashworth, who lost his seat in the general election, believes Starmer needs time to deliver on this promise.