How much is misinformation affecting the
debate, the very legitimate debate
around crime, migrants, and asylum
seekers? Uh, generally speaking, you'll
know that police are warning people with
huge social media followings to not
share material that is factually untrue.
Uh we also had a situation uh this week
where Ryland Clark, the TV presenter, he
was on this morning and he was
criticized by some and praised by others
for raising concerns about uh migration.
But how much of what he said was
factually true? How much of what people
say about the migrant debate is
factually true? Do we still care about
the truth? Whose truth is it? If you're
worried about migrants, you should
absolutely be able to have a platform to
say what you think, to say what your
concerns are. But do you feel that you
have a responsibility to get your facts
right
or would you say that doesn't matter and
that as long as you've done your
research, inverted commas, that you have
maybe cut and pasted something from
somewhere? you haven't checked it, but
you trust the person from which from
which it comes from whom it comes that
that's good enough.
Or do we actually have a responsibility
to get our facts right? And I know
things have shifted over the last 10
years and a lot of you have less trust
than you did before in um the so-called
mainstream media, but do we need to keep
a grip on facts? And does that I don't
know does that just make the any debate
that we have better healthier? It
doesn't mean that you can't have an
opinion. But does that opinion have to
be surrounded by facts? Let's have a
listen to what Ryland said. He was
speaking on this morning on Wednesday
and Ryland Clark expressed his view on
the small boats issue. A lot of the
nurses, the doctors that have saved my
mom's life have come over here from
other countries are living a great life.
They're paying into this tax system.
They're helping this country thrive. I
find it absolutely insane that all these
people, one are risking their lives
coming across the channel like that they
are, but two when they get here, it does
seem, and I think this is why a lot of
Labor voters as well are now sitting
there going, there's something wrong
here. It seems, welcome. Come on in.
Here's this is the narrative we're being
fed. Here's the hotel. Here's here's the
phones. Here's the iPad. Here's the NHS
in reception of your hotel. Here's three
meals a day. Here's a games room in the
hotel. Have a lovely time and welcome.
And then there's people that have lived
here all their lives that are
struggling. There are that how homeless.
Let's not even discuss our homeless that
people living on the streets, veterans,
all of this. Now, this isn't me getting
on my soap box because let me be honest,
everyone's gonna have an opinion about
this and you're gonna upset someone some
which way. I believe that something
major needs to be done about this. The
money that is costing us, the the amount
of people that are in this country that
we have no idea who they are.
>> Yeah.
>> What they've done, what they're capable
of, and clearly we see a lot of it in
the press at the moment. Some of what
some are doing, not all, what some are
doing to people in this country. How can
if I turn up at Ethro airport as a
British citizen and I've left my
passport in Spain, I've got to stand at
that airport and won't be let in and got
to get this. But if I arrive on a boat
in Cali, I get taken to a four-star
hotel.
>> Right, that was Ryland Clark speaking on
this morning on Wednesday. There's quite
a few different sections to that. First
of all, he talks about legal migration.
Then he talks about small boats and um
the reception that people who arrive on
small boats get, the treatment that they
get. Then he talks about homeless people
and he talks about cost of living. Um
and then he talks about something to do
with Heath Airport, which I I didn't
quite get, but anyway, he makes some
really interesting and very valid
points, but is it all is 100% of what he
said there factually true? Agie Shambre
is LBC's political correspondent. Hi
Aggie.
>> Hello.
>> Um try and fact check as much of this as
we can. I don't I mean I don't know how
much responsibility there is on Ryland
Clark to He's not a journalist to get
everything right. Uh but let's try and
as much as we can because I think it's
much easier to have a debate when you
actually know the facts. So he said um
and I think he was generalizing but he
said they uh migrants are put small boat
arrivals are put in four-star hotels. Is
that true?
Yeah. Yes. But and and I think this is
what is difficult about a lot of what he
says. There is a huge amount of what he
says that is true. Um and some of it is
not true. So in terms of fourstar
hotels, yes, that is true. However, if
you speak to people within the
government, they would say the
conservatives opened a lot of four-star
hotels. Uh but now they don't work as
four-star hotels effectively. There's a
lot of room sharing and a lot of the
facilities are closed. So were they to
be looked at now whether they were still
a fourst star hotel potentially the
answer would not be yes but that on the
face of it categorically true but it's
really interesting listening to him
isn't it because
>> he sort of puts in the caveat of saying
well this is what it seems like and this
is the narrative being fed but then goes
on to talk about it as if that's what he
believes
>> because a narrative if you look it up is
is a way of presenting facts. It's a
story. Uh it's not the facts. Um but
maybe he was I don't know you know we'll
get into we'll get into that in a minute
we'll get into that's so it's so
interesting okay three meals a day I
mean would we expect to feed people
three meals a day or two or one
>> so you will get um if you are waiting to
if you've applied for asylum and you're
waiting for the decision you will
usually get £4918 for each person in
your household and that will help you
pay for things you need like food
clothing and toiletries. But if your
accommodation provides your meals, then
you'll get £9.95 for each person
instead. Um, so it's not clear how many
meals that would be, but I guess you
could decide how many meals you wanted
to spend with that money.
>> Uh, phones and iPads. Does everyone get
a phone and and an iPad?
>> No. Um, so in the past some charities
have given out uh old old phones, old
iPads, especially during COVID, but that
is not something that the home office
gives out.
>> Okay. um NHS and the reception of the
>> No, but most people would get access to
the NHS when they were waiting for their
asylum um decision to be reached. Uh so
they would get access to NHS dentistry,
NHS um free eyesight tests, help paying
for glasses. Uh but that wouldn't be in
the uh lobby of your hotel. Right now
there is um some misinformation around
what actually hap what the experience is
of people who come in um on uh small
boats. Uh what and of course there are
some people who just say well they
shouldn't be getting anything. They
should just be deported straight away.
That's not the current system. So we
have to deal with the current system
whether you like it or not. uh the
current system is is that they are put
in um some hotels, some centers and
while they're there they are going to be
uh fed and housed. Uh they can't work uh
but they have to be fed and they have to
be housed and um I don't know how again
do you know roughly off the top of your
head what kind of period of time are we
talking about? Some of these people will
be in these um centers or hotels for
quite a long time.
>> That's right. I mean, so there though,
and it's worth saying as well, there is
this new um law that's just come in, the
one in oneout scheme, which actually
means that some people as soon as they
arrive on a small boat will actually be
detained immediately, basically
immediately. And then they would be
deported. That at the moment I think is
about
>> 1 to 18. So it's very very small numbers
at the moment. But in terms of the time
frame, I mean, basically what would
usually happen is you would be in a
processing center for
>> 24 hours or so and then move to a hotel
and that could be a matter of weeks, a
matter of months until you get the
response on asylum. And then if you were
granted asylum, effectively at that
point, the home office taps out um and
then you're kind of out on your own. But
of course, at that stage, you are then
eligible um to seek benefits and out of
work benefits and things like that. So
presumably people who are in these
centers for months um I mean it's not
it's not a parallel to say that they're
in a in a prison because they're not uh
but they are kind of restricted that
they're inside there's no point in them
I mean they can go out obviously but
they can't work so they're probably
spending quite a lot of time indoors
and therefore I suppose there is um is
there I don't know a contractual for
some people there's a contractual
liability ability to to do something
with them. And that's where this balloon
story has come from this morning. Uh
thousands of pounds according to the sun
being blown on hiring staff to teach
balloon craft and floristry to migrants
facing the boot. Painting and
hairdressing tutors and a gym boss also
wanted for Heathro immigration removal
center where detainees include serious
criminals. I'm just reading this from
the sun. Now this was um confirmed and
last night the home office minister
Simma Malhotra said the department had
asked for the roles to be scrapped. She
said we don't believe all these roles
are necessary and have told the home
office to speak to mighty that's the um
the the contracting firm to remove them.
So sometimes it sounds mad but it is
true. This isn't this is the case for
for one removal center that they were
advertising for people to put on this
stuff to occupy the people who are um
who are in in these centers. So
sometimes it's true and sometimes it's
not.
>> And and I think this is where we come
back to the point conversation we were
having at the beginning about a
narrative. And I think when people um
see stories like that, I mean the tries
have commented to saying um the
government's lost the plot and indeed
the home office minister immediately is
saying to mighty, you know, please get
rid of these. So that seems like it
sounds ridiculous to everybody really
that's looked at that story. But I think
that's why we get back to the narrative
of people see that and think that seems
ridiculous how you know how big a
problem is that and it's re it's been
really interesting this week speaking to
people within government about small
boats about their agenda going forward
because of course from Monday uh we're
back in the game recess is over and one
of the things that I think the
government has started talking a lot
more about internally is a sense of
fairness and they are worried that
people in the country feel there is a
huge amount of unfairness going on and
that's something that they are trying to
work out basically what to do about
really and small boats is is a massive
issue within that because they feel
people see small boats coming over and
think that people in small boats are
given accommodation are given money um
and then their high street is getting
more dilapidated and it's something I'm
told Rachel Reeves is actually thinking
about when she's thinking about what's
going to go into the budget the fact
that people feel they're putting more
and more and more in and guess getting
less and less out but when I say to
people well what are you going to do
about that? They do say, well,
>> we need something about the boats. We
need to deliver and we need to make sure
that everything is a bit more fair. And
that doesn't feel at this stage that
tangible. And that's why you get into
these kind of difficult conversations
where people do just feel that
everything is a bit unfair.
>> Yeah. Um it's a difficult question, but
I'll ask it anyway. Um do you think that
the government um some people say, "Oh
god, why won't the government do
something? Why won't they just why
doesn't Kirst stand up and say something
intervene in all of this because it
before it gets worse the debate around
uh which is sometimes not always
sometimes has some misinformation around
it about migrants about hotels about
crime etc. Are they a bit paralyzed and
they don't quite know what to do or do
they feel that they don't need to
respond to something that perhaps they
don't experience themselves?
>> I think it's a real mix of things. I
mean, I think the government would
probably point to the fact that Karma
did make a real
>> setpiece intervention about migration a
few months ago, and that speech was
actually pretty widely criticized by
some in his party because of that line
in it where he talked about an island of
strangers, which he has since said he
regretted and he hadn't read the speech
properly before he gave it. But they
would probably point to that
intervention. But there's also the
politics of it all and that's the fact
that the Labour Party is incredibly
worried about Reform UK. They see them
as the real opposition and so I don't
think that they would want to be seeding
too much ground to them on migration
much to the worry of some on the left of
their party.
>> Okay, Agie, thank you very much for
that. Agi Shambre, LBC's political
correspondent.