During BBC’s Question Time in Bexhill-on-Sea, journalist Ash Sarkar accused Conservative minister Helen Whately of indulging in a “nastiness Olympics” to please the Daily Mail regarding the UK government’s migration crackdown.
This came after the Archbishop of Canterbury condemned the government’s plans to address the small boats crisis. The immigration reforms aim to detain and promptly remove those who arrive in the UK without permission while housing asylum seekers in barracks and barges.
Sarkar expressed concerns that these laws treat people fleeing persecution and torture as criminals. Welby’s intervention sparked criticism at Westminster where he was told “handwringing or bell ringing” would not solve the issue.
Ash went on: “I object so strongly when you use these words like ‘generosity’, to talk about things like having a glorified prison ship or refurbishing a prison just around the corner from here in order to detain people who are fleeing some of the most unimaginable circumstances possible.
“No government does that because they think it’s morally good. No government does that because they think it’s particularly efficient or effective.
“You’re doing it because you’ve committed yourself to this nastiness Olympics because you want a pat on the back from the Daily Mail and the human cost of that is obscene.”
The audience appeared to laugh at the ‘drivel’ spoken by Helen Whateley when she praised the local Conservative MP – leading to Fiona Bruce explaining that they aren’t Labour voters in the audience, but Conservative voters.
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