Watch the moment Michelle Dewberry slaps down Labour MP Barry Gardiner in a tense row about the migrant crisis gripping Britain.
The member for Brent West was defending the Government’s approach to tackling the problem, suggesting it is starting to get a hold of it.
He said Labour was starting to address “pull factors” that make Britain an attractive destination for illegal migrants.
Gardiner also said “we’ve actually returned more people than in the past five years”, a point Michelle felt a need to address.
Michelle Dewberry told Barry Gardiner 'come off it' as an argument over the migrant crisis ensued
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“Oh Barry Gardiner come off it”, she interjected.
“You’re gonna quote to me 24,000 people. I am going to tell you, as we have this conversation all of the time, a large proportion of these were voluntary deportations, many of which the Government didn’t even have a hand on.
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Discarded small boat on the beachGB News“And we had to pay for many to go back.”
Gardiner denied the latter claim, saying: “We didn’t, actually. When you spoke about making sure that everyone who came here didn’t have the right to stay here and would be returned - you know as well as I do, governments of both shades have had the problem that countries we believe these people have come from refuse to take them back.
“It’s not a case of, you can come in and simply say, ‘we have a new policy - we’re going to return everybody’. You have to cooperate internationally with the governments from which we believe they have come from.
“That’s why it’s not easy. Many of them have ripped up their passports. It’s not as easy as you make it.”
A panel comprised of Zia Yusuf, Michelle Dewberry and Barry Gardiner debated Chris Philp's suggestion that Keir Starmer's plan to smash the gangs is 'in tatters'
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Gardiner asked Michelle and Reform UK chief Zia Yusuf for suggestions on how to actually grapple with the problem, saying Britain and France must cooperate to make sure the issue is tackled effectively.
It comes following the revelation that a record number of migrants have crossed the English Channel in small boats this year with more than 8,000 arriving in the UK in the first four months of 2025.
This represents a 46 per cent increase compared to the same point last year when 5,517 people had made the crossing.
The total is also 65 per cent higher than at this stage in 2023, according to provisional Government data.
More migrants arrived in Dover on Monday after crossing the Channel in smooth sea conditions.
Saturday saw 11 boats containing 656 people make the journey across the Channel - the highest number in a single day in 2025.
The French coastguard confirmed that 50 people were rescued at sea from various boats where migrants had requested assistance.
A Home Office spokesperson said: "We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security."
"That's why this Government has put forward a serious, credible plan to finally restore order to our asylum system, including tougher enforcement powers, ramping up returns to their highest levels for more than half a decade and a major crackdown on illegal working."
