Zia Yusuf clashes with small boat migrants during BBC row | Politics | News

Zia Yusuf told a small boat migrant whose asylum claim was rejected in several European countries that he would be deported if Nigel Farage won the next election.

Esref, who crossed the channel, told BBC Question Time that he tried to seek refuge in Türkiye, Macedonia, Serbia, Romania, Austria and Germany.

But he reached England five years ago and was allowed to stay there.

Question Time presenter Fiona Bruce also asked Mr Yusuf whether immigrants like Ashraf would be deported under the Reform Government.

He replied: “I don’t know enough about this particular story.

“Generally speaking, if you are entering from a war zone, women and children are often the first to go and the vast majority of people coming into this country illegally across the Channel are men.

“That’s a statistical fact. When people talk about language, I don’t know what language they’re objecting to.

“I deal with statistics, I deal with data, and I think this is a sensible way to formulate policy.

“And I think we need to use the language clearly, and I think we need to use the language correctly.”

Ms Bruce pointed out that Mr Farage had promised to deport all illegal immigrants living in the UK, such as Ashraf.

Mr Yusuf said: “Absolutely.

“If you are in this country illegally, let me be clear. If Nigel Farage is our next Prime Minister, and we are clearly trying to ensure that, if you are in this country illegally, you will be sent back to the country you came from.

“I have used the word invasion before, and people may object to the term, but the dictionary definition of invasion is an unwanted attack on an area of ​​land.

“And I don’t know how to explain this, 170,000 people are coming, by the way, what countries are they coming from?

“They’re coming from Syria, they’re coming from Afghanistan, they’re coming from Iraq.”

And a violent row broke out after a second small boat migrant from Iran debated whether he wanted to return.

She told the program: “I have a four-month-old son here. He is growing up here, learning English, learning to read and write English. He doesn’t know how to read and write Persian, or even speak Persian.

“What will happen to my daughter in five years when the Reform Government tells me that someone from an immigrant family should return to my country?”

Mr Yusuf responded: “My mother and father came here legally. They did not come illegally. There is a clear dividing line in British politics.

“Whether you want to vote for a party that will put the interests of foreign nationals here illegally first or vote for a party that will put the interests of hard-working British citizens first, set the alarm clocks before you go to bed and try to pay taxes.”

The Liberal Democrat’s Daisy Cooper intervened and said “this is not the dividing line”.

The pair later shouted at each other as they argued over benefits for immigrants, with Mr Yusuf highlighting last year’s £10bn Universal Credit bill for foreign nationals.

Green Party leader Zack Polanski later claimed that Reform wanted to charge asylum seekers a £49-a-week discount.

Ms Cooper later tried to blame Brexit for the lack of returns.

Tory Shadow Justice Secretary Kieran Mullan hit back: “This is complete nonsense.

“If it’s because of Brexit, why are people coming to Italy and Spain on boats? We received more under the repatriation agreement than we sent back.”