Andy Burnham accused of 'running away' from Britain's biggest issues after record mega dinghy Channel crossing: 'Terrible!'

The Tory said: "It's terrible, and this idea that Keir Starmer had that they would strike a kind of one-in-one-out deal that would act as a deterrent, and that we would see numbers collapse is just nonsense.

"I have to say that since he became Prime Minister, I haven't heard anything from Andy Burnham about how he's going to tackle this problem. I don't think he's been on GB News to talk about it, has he?

"There are major questions for the new Government, and they're running away from them."

The criticism comes as a record 230 illegal migrants entered the UK on a mega dinghy on Sunday.

In total, 950 small boat migrants arrived in Dover across the weekend, GB News can exclusively reveal.

Asked if the Conservatives would back Reform UK's proposed policy to use the Royal Navy to turn small boats back and land them back on French beaches, Mr Burghart admitted that they must "keep all options on the table".

Alex Burghart has accused Andy Burnham of 'running away' from major issues including the small boats crisis

GB NEWS / PA

He said: "I think that the thing that really will work best is if we have a system where you pick people up and effectively their feet don't touch the ground and they end up in a third country.

"They end up in a third country with whom you have a proper agreement, and if you do that, as the Australians showed with Nauru, quite a few years ago now, they didn't actually have to deport that many people because people stop travelling."

He argued: "They don't want to end up on in a country in the middle of nowhere, and so if you build in those very active deterrents, you can solve the problem.

"But the Labour Party isn't going to do that. It's not going to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, like the Conservatives have said that we would. Until that happens, we're going to be stuck in this problem."

A mega dinghy carrying a record number of illegal migrants reaches Britain as 230 cross the Channel on Sunday

SNS

Asked for his verdict on the Government's early release scheme for prisoners, Mr Burghart said there are "three things" the Tories would do to tackle the problem.

He told GB News: "We would build more prisons rapidly, we would make sure that we rented new places, particularly in countries like Estonia.

"I think Sweden has just bought a whole load of prison places off Estonia, so we would do that, and we would deport a whole load of foreign criminals who are in our jails.

"So, if you do those three things, as Nick Timothy set out, then you can start to solve this problem. But this Government isn't going to do any of that.

Mr Burghart told GB News that the most effective system will be one where the feet of illegal migrants 'don't touch the ground' in Britain

GB NEWS

"It is just going to release very dangerous people, including people it turns out who are responsible for the death of policemen, out into the community, and there will be a consequence to that."

A Home Office spokesman told GB News: "This latest incident demonstrates the reckless and dangerous tactics employed by the criminal gangs facilitating these crossings, who continue to put lives at risk by cramming ever greater numbers of people onto unseaworthy vessels.

"We are making progress, with the number of small boat crossings down this year and the lowest number recorded for the month of July since 2020.

"But we must go further, which is why we have signed a payment-by-results deal with the French to put 40 per cent more boots on the ground on French beaches."