SIR Jacob Rees-Mogg has told Shabana Mahmood to “join Reform” if she wants to get her immigration reforms implemented.
Speaking on GB News, he said: “Shabana Mahmood, I think, ought to join Reform. If she wants to become Prime Minister, she’s probably got a much better chance of doing it if she joins forces with Nigel.
“Because statement after statement seems to come out from her that indicates that that’s where her heart lies.
“She’s a Home Secretary who wants to do proper things: She wants to control migration and she’s coming forward with policies that would do that.
“She wants to delay the point at which people get indefinite leave to remain and now she’s announced that she’s going to use laws passed by Tony Blair, or more strictly when Tony Blair was Prime Minister, that allow appeals to be held from outside this country.
“And this is important because there’s a backlog of 104,000 people who have had their asylum request turned down but are now appealing and they are in hotels.
“They’re costing you the taxpayer millions, if not into the billions, and they themselves are in a state of limbo because they’re not allowed to work. They are certainly not meant to, and they’re just waiting to have their appeal heard.
“Of those 104,000, 14,000 of them come from foreign countries and are criminals. 4,000 from India, 2,700 from Nigeria, 1,750 from Albania.
“But India, Nigeria and Albania are safe countries, they’re not countries where you are going to have your toenails pulled out. And the point of refugee status is that you have a real, a genuine, a founded fear of persecution and these 14,000 criminals do not.
“And there are other safe countries, such as Kenya, Ghana, Brazil, even Ukraine. And if you can send people back there and have their appeals dealt with, you not only reduce the number waiting, not only reduce the cost of running the hotels and the benefits that are paid out, but you also create a disincentive to come.
“Somebody coming from a country that is safe, a Brazilian coming here – a perfectly safe country, a rather beautiful country. India, likewise. If they come here, now they will feel with this policy, that they won’t be able to stay.
“So they won’t come. They’ll stay in France if they get that far; they won’t come over on a little boat.
“But Shabana Mahmood isn’t representative of the Labour Party at large. Note how she’s trying to do this; she’s trying to do this by ministerial directive, by policy changes that don’t need to go to Parliament.
“Why? Because the Labour MPs don’t like it. They are the ones who want the open borders that Shabana Mahmood blames on the Tories.
“Angela Rayner, absolutely in the running for the leadership. I mean, she is under starter’s orders. If you think of this as the great Grand National, she is there. She is waiting to go for this great charge. As soon as the local elections are over, she wants to let everybody in.
“Shabana Mahmood, if you’re watching, join Nigel. I’m sure I welcome you. He keeps on promising a Labour MP will come along. It would be quite a coup if it were you, and it would also support your policy.”
