‘We want Ukrainians, we want Qataris, we don’t want people in rubber boats’
Conservative Sir Bill Wiggin has called on Boris Johnson to encourage the “right” kind of immigrant and discourage people that arrive in the U.K. on rubber boats.
The member of Parliament for North Herefordshire made the comments while questioning the Prime Minister during a session with the Liaison committee.
Sir Bill said he wanted to encourage wealthy Qataris, over people who arrive in the country via dangerous channel crossings.
“We have on at least three occasions promised the Qataris visa free access,” he said . “These are very wealthy people who are unlikely to stay and despite saying we’d do it three times we haven’t delivered.”
“I’m really worried PM, that everything you’ve said to us today I want to happen, but isn’t happening and the only people who are turning up, are turning up in rubber boats,
“Why can’t we get the right people through our immigration system, instead of the wrong ones?”
He concluded: “We want Ukrainians, we want Qataris, we don’t want people on rubber boats.”
The Prime Minister said Priti Patel’s Nationality and Border’s bill will help the government do a great deal to stop the cruel trade in people crossing the. channel
“We ought to do our best to deal with that,” he said.
"We want rich Qataris, not people in rubber boats."
Tory MP @BillWigginMP says the UK's immigration system is attracting the "wrong people." pic.twitter.com/vJGMTOodqh
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) March 30, 2022
It’s estimated that more than 4,000 people have made the dangerous journey across the English Channel aboard small boats so far in 2022 – around four times as many as this time last year.
Many of those forced to take the perilous crossing are people escaping war in their home countries of Afghanistan and Kurdistan.
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