Susanna Reid: "Successive governments have failed to tell a positive story on immigration, we rely on immigration... how Chris Philp can lecture the current government on immigration... is kind of remarkable..."#bbclaurak#TrevorPhillipspic.twitter.com/Gz5SUlm1Pp
— Haggis_UK ???????? ???????? (@Haggis_UK) December 15, 2024
Susanna Reid has criticised Chris Philp over the Tories’ record in office as she mounted a passionate defence of migrants.
The Good Morning Britain presenter was on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show when she took aim at the shadow home secretary.
Philp had used his own appearance on the programme to criticise Labour over the high numbers of asylum seekers who are still crossing the English Channel on small boats.
Asked for her views on the subject, Reid said: “I think that successive governments have failed to tell a positive story on immigration. We rely on immigration to run our public services, to grow our economy.
“But there is huge concern about how we support the immigrants who come, and with all due respect to Chris Philp, how he can lecture the current government on immigration when it was under the previous government that legal net migration by almost a million is remarkable.
“Anybody is going to be worried that if you have that scale of legal migrants coming in how are you going to support them with the NHS and housing.
“What governments need to do is say ’we need migrants, they are positive and valuable contributors to our society, but this is the number roughly we need.”
Reid also attacked Labour’s pledge to lower immigration, saying: “That makes it sound like immigration is a bad thing - we’re going to lower it because immigrants are bad.
“But they’re not bad, and then you hand over the political argument to Reform and a sort of Faragist proposal on one in, one out.”
