Green Party MP Caroline Lucas engaged in a fiery war of words with Tory MP Jonathan Gullis over the government’s crackdown on migration.
Appearing on the BBC’s Politics Live show, the outspoken backbench Conservative argued he was “compassionate” as Lucas hit out at the government’s “grotesquely inhumane” illegal migration bill.
The new legislation, which is currently making its way through parliament, would change the law to make it clear people arriving in the UK illegally will not be able to remain in the country.
The government also plans to send migrants to Rwanda, but the policy has so far been stalled by legal action and no flights have taken off.
Discussing the matter on the BBC, Gullis argued it was “compassionate” to “stop these journeys from taking place, because there is no need for people to needlessly put their lives in danger by crossing the Channel, there’s no need to put thousands of pounds in the hands of smuggling gangs”.
After Lucas pointed out the only reason that people make the dangerous crossing is because there is a lack of safe and legal routes for refugees, Gullis responded: “This country is a compassionate country”.
Lucas then fired back: “This country is indeed a compassionate country, and it deserves better than you, and it deserves better than the Conservatives.”
Watch the clip in full below:
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