Victoria Derbyshire was quick to fact-check a Tory MP who appeared to be linking illegal immigration to the horrific knife attack in Belfast.
Wednesday saw a second consecutive night of rioting in Belfast and Northern Ireland following the arrest of a 30-year-old Sudanese man suspected of carrying out a knife attack.
Hadi Alodid appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie, who lost his left eye, and sustained deep cuts to his head, face and back during the alleged attack on Monday.
Alodid arrived in the UK in 2023 and was granted refugee status later that year, the Home Office said. He had been granted legal leave to remain in the United Kingdom until 2028.
Although Alodid was in the UK legally, some on the right have co-opted the Belfast attack to voice concerns about illegal immigration.
One such example of this came on Newsnight this week, when Tory MP David Reed mentioned the subject of illegal immigration during a discussion about the scenes in Belfast.
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Victoria Derbyshire was quick to jump in and remind Reed that Alodid had been granted legal permission to remain in the UK under the then-Conservative government.
Reed went on to claim that “the things are linked,” adding: “Illegal migration and migration are massive issues”
Derbyshire once again reminded the MP that Alodid had been in the UK legally.