Brendan O'Neill, chief political writer at Spiked Online, has warned Prime Minister Andy Burnham that he and his Labour government could be sued for their handling of the UK's migrant crisis. Appearing on TalkTV on Wednesday (7 October), the journalist told Kevin O'Sullivan, "We know for a fact that the men coming on these small boats are a threat to women and girls."
Government 'knowingly endangering' women and Jewish people
O'Neill said: "We know from two recent cases and many more that they're a threat to British Jews, so any government that fails to stop these boats is knowingly endangering women and Jewish people in this country. They know that they are doing that, so they have to be held to account for it."
He added: "I'm waiting for the day when one of the poor, unfortunate women who is assaulted by one of these men takes action against the government itself and sues the government for recklessly endangering her life. That is what the government is doing."
Viewers react on X
Following the TV appearance, viewers took to X in response. One replied: "I've said that if anything happens to my family or me, I will sue the government. I don't know why no one has done it!" Another added: "Everyone can see where this ends if nothing changes. Waiting for tragedy isn't a policy."
Both Burnham and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood have come under fire in recent months for their handling of small boat crossings. While Labour maintains that the number of small-boat crossings has decreased from last year, it was revealed in September that over 1,000 illegal migrants had arrived in the UK over the course of three days.
Home Office figures and political criticism
Home Office figures showed that 150 small boat migrants had arrived on Monday, September 21, followed by 154 on Tuesday, September 22, and 781 on Wednesday, September 23.
Responding to the figures, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "It does show that Shabana Mahmood has no control of our borders, with these boats making it all the way across undetected. There may be others, as you rightly say. Now, last week was a shocking week... We had a boat crossing from Normandy towards the Isle of Wight, the longest ever crossing, and in just three days last week – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – over 1,000 illegal immigrants entered the country."
More recently, leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, pointed out that Burnham failed to mention how he would combat illegal immigration in his highly-publicised speech at the Labour conference. "I'm more worried about what wasn't in his speech last week," Kemi stated on Wednesday (7 October).
She said: "Funding defence wasn't in it, getting borrowing under control wasn't in it, stopping illegal immigration wasn't in it, cutting crime wasn't in it, cutting the ballooning benefits bill wasn't in his speech. I'm shocked that this Prime Minister doesn't have defence, the economy, immigration or crime in his priorities. This is not serious." Kemi concluded that "the country deserves better".
