UK
Tory speechless as NO ONE in Question Time audience raises hand to support Rwanda plan
Health minister Helen Whately appeared flustered after BBC Question Time host Fiona Bruce asked if anyone supported the government's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda and no one put their hand up
Sophie Huskisson
Political Correspondent
30 Jun 2023
A Tory minister was left tongue-tied on Question Time last night after not one person in the audience said it supported the government’s Rwanda plan.
The crowd - which included many Conservative voters - failed to raise their hands when asked three times by presenter Fiona Bruce if they wanted to speak up in support for the policy
The Question Time debate topic - “Is it time to give up on the government’s Rwanda plan?” was chosen after top judges yesterday ruled the government's plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful as it could not be considered a "safe third country".
Ms Bruce asked the audience: “Is there anyone here who supports the Rwanda policy and who wants to speak up, because we have a lot of Conservative voters here in the audience?
“I mean if there’s no-one here, then let’s recognise that fact. Is there anyone here who supports the Rwanda policy?”
One man piped up to ask why people do not stay in other safe countries they cross before reaching the UK, but ultimately added: “I don’t support the Rwanda policy, as much.”
For a third time, Ms Bruce asked: “But just so I’m clear, as we’re very careful how we select our audience - and I’m not trying to overstate the importance here, this is not a YouGov poll - but what I’m seeing here is, even though we have more people who voted Conservative here who supports sending people to Rwanda.”
Not a single person raised their hand with one panel member then shouting: “Good on you”, to which the audience responded with applause.”
The BBC presenter pressed Tory MP Helen Whately for a response.
She stuttered as she began her answer: “Now, or after? I think there’s a few things to pick up here… I think this is a very hard problem to solve.”
“I think most of us feel we want to be welcoming people and understand people have made hard and difficult journeys to try to come to the UK before they choose to get into a small boat,” the Minister for Social Care went on.
“Yes, they are in France and have crossed several safe countries, but we know they have started out from places where life is very hard.”
Ms Whately said she had visited a migrant camp in Calais a few years ago and heard their reasons for wanting to come to the UK.
“I heard those stories directly but it doesn’t mean that it is morally right to continue a situation where we have people risking their lives in small boats and paying people smugglers to do that. We have to do something different to deter that,” she added.
As Ms Whately attempted to diss Labour for not having a plan, Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan retorted back to her that the Rwanda plan was “inhumane” and “unworkable” and now it’s “unlawful”.
The Labour frontbencher said: “I just think we need to take a moment and think about what drives people to leave everything they have; take their children on treacherous journeys.
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