“It’s not Labour who’s been in power for the last 13 years.”
Energy Secretary Grant Shapps endured a humiliating interview on Sky News earlier today over the government’s record on immigration.
Shapps tried to blame the Labour Party for the government’s poor record on immigration after being asked why it did not have any data on how many immigrants were still in the UK despite their students visas running out.
As is typically the case with Tory ministers, Shapps tried to avoid answering the question and instead tried to blame the Labour Party, forgetting that the Tories have been in power for the last 13 years.
Shapps replied: “I don’t know the answer on that specific point, but broadly I would say this government has really proactively passed – I have to say against Labour on every single occasion – a whole series of pieces of legislation …”
However Sky’s Jayne Secker hit back: “It’s not Labour who’s been in power for the last 13 years.”
Shapps replied: “You need to let me complete my sentences here, otherwise this is not going to be very informative.”
Secker then said: “If I ask you about something the government has done, it seems disingenuous for you to then start blaming Labour.”
The Tory then complained that every time he tried to answer a question, Secker interrupted him. He added: “The point I was trying to make is we have been passing legislation against tooth and nail opposition from the Labour Party to crack down on things like illegal migration – what happens across the Channel, for example, with small boats and those criminal gangs.”
He also said the government was clamping down on bogus degree courses which were being used to attract people ‘perhaps illegally for migration purposes’.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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