Former Deputy Leader of Reform UK Ben Habib has scolded the Conservatives for their policy on immigration, in a fresh row over party policies to tackle the surging issue.
Writing in the Express, Habib called for an "end to the Tories" and claimed it is "finally time to put them out of their misery" following an agonising election loss.
Criticising the Tories on GB News, Habib detailed his latest attack on the party and claimed they have been "hijacked by globalism".
Habib also claimed that Labour and the Conservatives are similar in the fact that both operate in a "fundamentally anti-British way".
Nigel Nelson claimed Reform UK 'want to drown migrants' in the Channel
GB News
Sharing his views with former Conservative MP Miriam Cates, Habib explained: "When I joined Reform UK, we were polling at six per cent. When the General Election kicked off, we were polling at 16 per cent.
"We got five seats, which from a political perspective under first past the post is seismic. But we came second in 98 seats to Labour. It's Labour who's heels we were looking at.
"Labour voters in this country are small 'c' conservatives. They believe in the United Kingdom, and so I think under first-past-the-post, Reform UK will cut through."
Responding to Habib's remarks, political commentator Nigel Nelson says Britain "tends to be moderate and centrist", and is where "most voters lie".
Ben Habib and Nigel Nelson clashed on the UK's approach to tackling illegal migration
GB News
Nigel said: "Britain tends to be moderate, it's centrist. We haven't had revolutions in the past because of that. So when Ben talks about centrist parties being anti-British, that are anti-British, that is where the voters mostly lie."
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Habib hit back at Nigel, arguing: "How can you be pro-British with open borders? You have to have borders to define your territorial integrity.
"It is the definition of the United Kingdom. The limit of our territorial waters marks where our country ends and France starts. And that needs physical enforcement - it's basic."
Nigel then scolded the former Reform UK deputy, claiming: "All you want to do is actually drown people, by trying to turn the boats back to France."
Habib was infuriated by Nigel's claim, interjecting: "I tell you what you're doing, your policy guarantees continued death in the Channel. By encouraging the trade, by not stamping down on it, by not stopping the boats, more and more people are going to come and more and more people are going to die.
Ben Habib said Conservatives should be 'put out of their misery'
GB News
"By the way, just let us be utterly clear on this. We are importing criminality into the UK by not enforcing our borders, and we are therefore allowing civil society in this country to be assaulted. And I call that uncivilised."
Nigel then offered his counter-argument, stating: "The argument is not over whether or not we should enforce our borders, we both agree with that. The question is how we enforce the borders.
"And at the moment, we've got a system where we've introduced the Illegal Migration Act, and all that's done is stored up 100,000 people who can't stay in this country but can't leave it either."
