GB News presenter Michelle Dewberry has slammed Conservative MP David Reed in a heated on-air row over migration. Speaking with the Exmouth and Exeter East representative on Tuesday, Dewberry told Reed to 'Come off it' after he suggested that a 'heating planet' was responsible for the recent increase in small boat crossings.
Dewberry Accuses Tories of 'Open Borders Britain'
Speaking about the Conservative party's approach to migration, Dewberry began the exchange by accusing the Tories of sparking 'what many people regard as open borders Britain'. Defending his party, Reed remarked that all of Western Europe had been facing the same challenges with migration as Britain. 'I think we are seeing a problem right across Western Europe. These problems are not individual to the UK... they're all experiencing similar things,' he told Dewberry.
Climate Change as a Migration Driver
Suggesting that an increase in migration could be attributed to climate change, the MP continued: 'If you just look at a heating planet, you look at equatorial regions heating up. Migration is born.' A statement that left Dewberry visibly astonished, the GB News star promptly hit back. 'You're not telling me these guys are coming over the Channel because they're a bit hot?' she said, with Reed insisting that 'A heating planet leads to violence' while serving as 'a contributing factor' to migration. 'Oh! Come off it!' Dewberry exclaimed in a tense moment.
Reed Points to Hostile States
Steering the conversation in a different direction, Reed posited that migration had been 'weaponised' by other 'hostile states', including Russia. 'So if that's the reality that we're facing, then there needs to be really strong measures in place to deter people from coming into our country,' he warned. Reed added the UK government currently has 'the power' to put strong measures in place to deter more people from entering the country. Referencing the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), he remarked: 'We have to leave that treaty in order to be able to have full control over who comes into the country and who we can say needs to be deported.'
