Lee Anderson slaps down ‘out of touch’ Gary Lineker in small boats row

John Redwood on plans for lifetime ban on Channel migrants

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Lee Anderson has slapped down Gary Lineker for criticising the Government’s plan for tackling the small boats crisis. The deputy Tory chairman accused the BBC star of being “totally out of touch” with the British public.

The Match of the Day host retweeted a clip of Home Secretary Suella Braverman discussing new legislation to crack down on Channel migrant crossings.

Mr Lineker told his 8.6 million Twitter followers: “Good heavens, this is beyond awful.”

But Ashfield MP Mr Anderson hit back at the BBC presenter – who was the corporation’s highest-paid star on £1.35 million last year – over his intervention.

The Red Wall MP told the Express: “Once again this taxpayer-funded virtue-signalling out-of-touch multi-millionaire ex-footballer pipes up to show how totally out of touch he is with the rest of the British public.

“I would politely suggest that he needs to go and get some fresh air before he tweets again.”

It comes as the Home Secretary and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today formally unveiled new legislation to plans to remove and ban migrants from re-entry if they arrive in the UK through unauthorised means.

Mrs Braverman told the Commons the need for reform of the asylum system is “obvious and is urgent”.

She said many of the people who have arrived on small boats came “from safe countries like Albania”, and that “almost all passed through France”, with “the vast majority” being adult males under 40 “rich enough to pay criminal gangs thousands of pounds for passage”

She said: “Upon arrival, most are accommodated in hotels across the country, costing the British taxpayer around £6 million a day.

“The risk remains that these individuals just disappear. And when we try to remove them, they turn our generous asylum laws against us to prevent removal.

“The need for reform is obvious and is urgent.”

Mr Sunak has argued that his new Illegal Migration Bill will “take back control of our borders, once and for all”.

The PM made getting a grip on the issue one of his top five priorities for his premiership.

Ministers are expected to approach the limits of the European Convention on Human Rights with the new legislation.

A duty will be placed on the Home Secretary to remove “as soon as reasonably practicable” anyone who arrives on a small boat, either to Rwanda or a “safe third country”.

And arrivals will be prevented from claiming asylum while in the UK, with plans also to ban them from returning once removed.

But critics have warned that the proposals are “unworkable” and will leave thousands of migrants in limbo by banning them from ever claiming British citizenship again.

It comes as the Government’s controversial plan to send migrants on a one-way ticket to Rwanda has so far been grounded by legal challenges.

Almost 3,000 people have made the perilous journey from France so far this year.

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