Tony Blair’s former advisor has told GB News he wants the Government to grant all those who are stuck in the asylum system refugee status to “clear the backlog.”
Speaking to Michelle Dewberry, John McTernan, who worked with the former prime minister from 2005 until 2007, said it was “time for an amnesty.”
He said: “I’d just grant asylum status, refugee status, to everybody who is here and applying.”
It came ahead of Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s vow to stop migrant Channel crossings.
McTernan said he would grant refugee status 'to everybody who is here and applying'
GB News
Today, Braverman unveiled plans for new laws that will crack down on Channel crossings, telling MPs it would “betray” British voters not to tackle the “waves of illegal migrants breaching our border.”
McTernan, joined by former advisor to Nadhim Zahawi, Mark Lehain, suggested the new legislation “won’t work.”
Michelle Dewberry challenged Blair’s former aide over the accommodation for migrants.
“You started putting people in the cheap and cheerful places. All of those very quickly filled up… Those cheap and cheerful places are long gone.
More than 45,000 people last year made the journey across the Channel
PA
“We are now up to four-star hotels. People are getting their wedding venues cancelled!”
McTernan replied that it was now “time for an amnesty.
“I’d just grant asylum status, refugee status, to everybody who is here and applying.
“Clear the backlog now.
McTernan said he would grant refugee status 'to everybody who is here and applying'
GB News
“It’s what Boris Johnson actually said that he would do when he was Mayor of London.”
Lehain responded by saying that would create further problems in the long term.
“If you do go down the amnesty route then people just take that as a green light to come to the country through illegal routes on the assumption that there’ll be another amnesty further down the line.
“It’s a really hard thing to crack because if it had been easy to crack we would’ve done it before now.”
Braverman has introduced new laws cracking down on Channel crossings
House of Commons
The Home Secretary said legislation would be introduced to remove asylum seekers and ban them from re-entry if they arrive in the UK through unauthorised means.
She told MPs: “For a Government not to respond to waves of illegal migrants breaching our borders would be to betray the will of the people we were elected to serve.”
Speaking in the Commons, Braverman said: “They will not stop coming here until the world knows that if you enter Britain illegally you will be detained and swiftly removed.
“Removed back to your country if it is safe, or to a safe third country like Rwanda. And that is precisely what this Bill will do. That is how we will stop the boats.”
You can watch Dewbs & Co every weekday from 6pm on GB News.
