Well, let's get more now on those
protests expected today over asylum
seekers in hotels, the government's
efforts to reform the appeal system,
too. Lots to get into. I'm pleased to
say you're joined now by shadow home
office minister and deputy chairman of
the Conservative Party. It's Matt
Vickers. Great to have you with us
today. Uh Mr. Vickers, why do you think
we're seeing people up and down the
country protesting outside asylum
hotels? Morning.
>> Good morning. I think there's a huge
amount of concern across the country and
rightly so. We've seen a huge increase
in the number of illegal immigrants
arriving in this country, people
breaking into this country. It's up
nearly 50% uh in the year to date. That
isn't acceptable. It's not sustainable.
It's placing huge pressure on public
services. It's placing huge pressure on
public finances. And then we've seen
some of these horrific cases like this
chap being charged in Eping uh for the
sexual assault. It's just not a thing
that can carry on. People are utterly
frustrated. They want an end to this.
They want to see these hotels closed.
They want to see a reduction in the
number of people here, well arriving
here. And the only way to do that is to
put that deterrent in place. People who
arrive here should be detained and they
should be removed from this country.
That's what the last government was
about to do. We had the Rwanda scheme.
There was a plan there to do that. Labor
came to office. They scrapped that.
They've actually removed all the
legislation, repealed the bill that was
going to allow us to remove these people
from our country. It can't go on. People
are concerned. They're frustrated and
they're worried about the impact on
their communities and their families.
>> Mr. Vicas, how many flights took off to
Rwanda under the Conservative
government?
>> The scheme hadn't started. You saw the
legal wranglings that went on. You saw
the fights with the lefty lawyers to get
this thing done. But we've actually gone
completely the wrong way. The reason the
numbers are going up is because a that
deterrent was removed, but b Karma has
changed the law to allow people who
arrive here illegally to become British
citizens. That was in legislation. It
couldn't happen. He's changed the law on
that. But it's no surprises. You can't
trust a thing this Labor government say,
whether it be the pensioners, whether it
be not a penny more on council tax that
we're now all paying for. But when it
comes to immigration in particular, Kia
Starama and his party who are now in
government voted against every measure
brought forward to toughen up our
immigration system. Kama was out there
campaigning against the deportation of
foreign criminals. This is not a guy who
could be trusted with our immigration
system and now we're seeing the
consequences.
>> It's so interesting, isn't it? and you
would have taken time, I bet, to reflect
over this summer recess about politics,
our system, and and how you're serving
local constituents.
You've been in government, you've been
in opposition, too, uh, while this
system of housing asylum system, asylum
seekers in hotels, um, has grown. Um,
isn't your party partly responsible for
the mess that we're seeing today?
I think previous governments got it
wrong. The number was too high. But
reality is when you look at this hotel
situation in particular, the n before
the election, the last government was
reducing the number. It was down 47%. If
we'd carried on on that trajectory,
there wouldn't be any hotels in the
country. Now that's what the last
government was delivering. It was taking
away these hotels. 47% reduction. Nearly
half of the hotels have been closed. But
the reality is now numbers record
numbers arriving in the country more
people in hotels and of those people
arriving illegally less of them are
being removed just 5% now of illegal
arrivals are being removed by labor you
need a deterrent we need to stop people
getting in these boats in the first
place they need to know that if they
come to this country they are going back
there is no welcome mat to be had here
that is the only way to solve this
problem
>> okay so if not hotels where then because
right now thousands of asylum seekers
are waiting for their claims to be
processed. You know, if you scrap
hotels, where would they go?
>> The reality is when the last government
was reducing the number, it was looking
at disused army bases. We we obviously
had the the the barges. We look we've
well ke suggested that we should be
looking at camps. We shouldn't be
dumping these people in the middle of
communities with all the consequences
that come around public safety and
public security, but also the economic
impact. I went to Alteringham, met with
business owners there. A hotel that used
to have 300 people arriving in town
every week to visit, to spend money in
shops, to spend money in restaurants and
pubs, those hotels have been taken out
of circulation. Those hotel rooms, these
businesses, these people who put their
lives into creating small businesses are
now suffering the consequences. So,
first and foremost, get them out of the
center of town. We can't have huge
groups of lone men hanging around in
town centers as they are. But the
reality is we need that deterrent. We
need people to know that if they arrive,
they're going home. That's the only way
we're going to draw down the numbers.
These people shouldn't be in these
hotels. They should be going back to
wherever they came from when they broke
into this country.
>> We've seen violent scenes, haven't we?
And at the start of this conversation,
we showed some some pictures of people
protesting, you know, big bricks being
thrown, police being injured. There is a
difference between peaceful protest and
this type of action. Do you condemn the
people protesting in that way outright?
>> I think anybody who breaks the law needs
to feel the consequences. I think the
vast majority of people on these
protests go to share their concerns,
raise their concerns about something
they see that's happened to their
country. They're like me. They're
disgusted by and they think is
unacceptable. That's the right thing to
do. They can protest. The minute you
decide to abuse a police officer, break
the law, cause public public out. The
minute you break the law, you should be
suffering the consequences, uh it's not
acceptable to protest in such a way. But
the vast majority of people you see
protesting about this are not breaking
the law. There's a couple of thugs who
join often they're not local uh who
cross the line, who go too far, who are
abusive, who are aggressive, and yes,
they should feel the full force of the
law. And just very briefly as we wrap
your response to Ivette Cooper and her
improvements they say by speeding up the
appeals process.
>> The reality is the only way we'll see
will sort some of the legal entranglings
around this like chicken nugget gate
where a guy whose kids didn't like
foreign chicken nuggets so he couldn't
be deported. The situation of a guy who
didn't want to be deported because he
might have to shave and then we saw the
guy who would pedophile who couldn't be
deported because he would face hostility
in his own country. That's ridiculous.
That is not the outcomes. That's not
what the people want to see.
>> With respect, with respect, sir, those
are very unusual cases and very rare
cases.
>> In increasing numbers at the moment, we
have said that we need to disapproved.
If you commit a crime in this country,
you should go back. I don't care what
hostility you're facing as a result of
what you've done. The reality is the
British people cannot continue to pick
up the p the tax the pieces. They cannot
continue to fund this in everinccreasing
numbers. It's not acceptable. So yes, we
want to see the courts speed up these
processes, but you need to get the law
right. You need to disapportation.
You need to start sending people home
who've broken into this country. And the
reality is you can't trust a word that
Labour say on this. These are people who
voted against every single measure
immigration system. And then that Kiama
and his chums campaigned against the
deportation of foreign criminals. We
knew what was going to happen when they
get into office. We're seeing the
consequences now. The number of arrivals
up nearly 50% more people in hotels and
less of them being removed from this
country.
>> Okay, we'll leave it there. Matt Vicar,
shadow home office minister, deputy
chairman of the Conservative Party.
Thanks.