Labour Minister Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, falsely claimed on BBC Question Time last night that most small boat migrants are women and children, but the BBC failed to provide a factual correction. The Mail has more.
This is the moment a BBC Question Time audience turned on a Labour Minister for “outrageously” claiming most small boat migrants are women and children.
More than 14,800 people have arrived in Britain after making the crossing so far in 2025 – making it the worst start to the year on record.
The arrivals continued today, with pictures showing migrants being bussed away from Dover after being intercepted by a Border Force cutter.
The issue was a major topic of debate on last night’s Question Time, which hosted several senior politicians including Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf.
But Mr Jones provoked fury by claiming in front of a live audience that “the majority of the people in these boats are children, babies and women”.
Following cries of disbelief from members of the public, Mr Yusuf interjected to say that “more than 90% of them are adult men”.
Home Office figures show 73% per cent of small boat arrivals in 2024 – or 26,999 out of all 36,816 arrivals — were adult males.
Following Mr Yusuf’s intervention, host Fiona Bruce turned to Mr Jones and asked: “You’re saying that’s not true?”
He replied: “I’m saying it’s not true. I’m saying this is controversial for a reason and you’re told you’re not supposed to challenge the audience on Question Time, but I’m going to.
“When there are babies and children put into that position by human trafficking gangs, who are coming across the Channel with skin burns from the oil from those boats mixing with the salt sea water, I would ask any of you to look at those babies and children and say ‘go back’.”
Mr Yusuf hit back: “In my previous answer, I made the case that this Government prioritises foreign citizens over citizens of the United Kingdom. After that testimony, I can rest my case.
“‘The vast, vast majority of people making the journey from France by small boat are fighting age, military age, males, not women and children.
“We’re talking about asylum hotels, and Rachel Reeves saying we’re going to shut down asylum hotels.
“I spent many weeks in the constituency of Runcorn and Helsby. Runcorn is a very deprived area. And do you know the issue that exercised people so much? The reason is primarily because of HMOs – houses of multiple occupancies [i.e., not just hotels].
“In an unholy alliance of Serco and Yvette Cooper, illegal migrants are being deposited into communities and there’s no say for the local people.”
Government ministers seem to be living in a fantasy land where they don’t even hold in their heads the basic facts about the issues most exercising the country.
Why did Fiona Bruce ask Jones whether Yusuf’s claim was true? Why didn’t she just provide the facts? It’s a piece of data, not something up for debate. Totally inept.
Watch the clip (and read the article in full) here.
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