'Would you live in Rwanda?' Adil slams Pursglove on refugee plan

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Good Morning Britain hosts Kate Garraway and Adil Ray were joined by the Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration Tom Pursglove on Friday’s instalment of the ITV news programme. The minister appeared on the show to discuss the Government’s pilot scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, but the topic soon turned into a heated debate. Following the fiery segment, Garraway had to apologise to viewers for making an error. 

The interview heated up when Ray told the minister: “You are sending them to a country that last year the UK Foreign Office said was still a grave concern when it came to human rights. That’s the UK Foreign Office.”

The presenter fumed: “In 2018, the police shot 12 protesters dead, refugee protesters. You are sending people there, where is the ethics in that? 

“Forget the legal duty, forget the strategy, where is the ethics which our country and our reputation depends on?”

Garraway interjected: “We took 250 refugees from Rwanda into the UK last year, there must have been a reason why we felt they had a case for safe harbour here and that rankles hard with people who think, ‘hold on, we’re sending people to Rwanda that are already in fear.'”

Following the debate Good Morning Britain cut to an advertisement break, but when the show returned Garraway had to apologise to viewers. 

She said: “I’d just like to apologise. I made an error, a factual error Adil.

“When we were discussing with the minister about people being taken asylum from Rwanda, I was making the point, as you were, that some people don’t think Rwanda is a very safe place for asylum seekers.

“I said 250 fleeing the country were granted asylum in the UK, that was wrong, they were granted asylum in Europe on the whole,” Garraway explained.”

The host continued: “So, I guess the point is the same though?”

“The point is the same, that they didn’t feel safe in Rwanda, they wanted to come to Europe, but I want to get my facts right and I apologise for that misinformation.” 

The debate came in the wake of Boris Johnson’s plans to hand an initial down-payment of £120m to the Rwandan government in the hope it will accept “tens of thousands” of people.

Elsewhere in the interview, Ray asked the Tory MP whether he would “live in Rwanda”.

“I don’t think that is relevant,” Pursglove replied and Ray hit back: “Of course it’s relevant.

“If it’s not good enough for you why is it good enough for a Syrian or Afghan refugee?

“It’s got to be somewhere we think is safe, these are human beings, these are people who come to us for help.”

“You’re saying you wouldn’t go to Rwanda, would you?” Ray probed. 

Pursglove replied: “Our position is very clear that we never put people in danger.”

Ray continued to repeatedly ask the minister if he would live in Rwanda as he attempted to divert the question.

Interrupting Pursglove once more, Ray said: “Let’s send thousands of people at a cost of billions of pounds to a country that you in charge of illegal migration in this country wouldn’t even go to yourself.”

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays between 6am and 9am on ITV. 

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