HARDENED criminals including rapists are coming to Britain on small boats, an academic warned today in a cry for politicians to get tough.
Professor Matthew Goodwin said illegal Channel crossings are a “serious issue” for voters because some go on to commit vile offences.
Louis WoodSmall boat crossings are a ‘serious issue’, commentator Matthew Goodwin says[/caption]
Goodwin was a guest on this morning’s episode of Never Mind the BallotsNMTB
ReutersHe warned Rishi Sunak faces wipeout at the polls[/caption]
NMTBHarry Cole hosted a fierce clash between Goodwin and Matthew Stadlen[/caption]
The right-leaning author clashed with left-wing commentator Matthew Stadlen on a fiery episode of Never Mind The Ballots this morning.
Mr Stadlen railed: “You said that the Tories had let in an assortment of illegal migrants, rapists and Islamist terrorists. That is straight out of the Trump handbook.”
But Prof Goodwin hit back: “People who have come across in a small boats have gone on to pour acid over mothers and children in their cars.
“Some of them have gone on to rape British schoolgirls down in Kent.
“Yes, actually, I think this is a serious issue that people care about.”
The heated exchanges saw Mr Stadlen say that wherever there are humans “you will find criminals” and that small boat migrants were “desperate” people.
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Prof Goodwin shot back: “Even the security services have said the people who are coming across are a threat to the British people!”
The Tories risk electoral obliteration while Nigel Farage will continue riding the wave of anti-elitism sweeping Europe, Professor Goodwin added.
He warned either the pollsters will have egg on their faces on July 5 – or Rishi Sunak’s vote is on course to collapse.
Speaking on Never Mind The Ballots, the right-leaning author said: “We’re either heading into the biggest error in the history of the polling industry – in which case the polling industry is just going to need to pack up and go home.
“Or we’re heading for a major Conservative wipeout and Farage’s best performance on record.”
Some polls have put Reform within two points of the PM, leaving some Tories fearing a “crossover” point where Mr Farage overtakes.
Prof Goodwin said “mayhem” would break loose if that happened and that “all bets are off” for the future of the party.
Mr Farage this week ruled out doing a deal with the Tories, whom he accused of presiding over 14 years of high taxes and mass immigration.
Populists in Europe like the National Rally in France thumped governing parties in this week’s continental elections by standing on the same platform.
In a fiery clash on this morning’s show, left-wing commentator Stadlen said the march of the right was being overplayed.
He highlighted how centrist parties still commanded the biggest shares in the European Parliament.
But Prof Goodwin dismissed this as a “comfort blanket for people on the left”, adding: “If you look at all the evidence as to why people are voting for Marine Le Pen, for the AfD in Germany, for Nigel Farage in Britain, they have entirely rational, coherent concerns.
“The left refuses to accept this. They want lower immigration. They want slower demographic cultural change.
“They want stronger borders. They don’t want the woke stuff being jammed down their throats.
“They don’t want to be told that a woman is a man and a man is a woman. They just want common sense policies.
“Now the left can keep saying, this is just protest. These people are irrational gammons and bigots, and they’re misinformed and they’re disinformation.
“But the reality is they have entirely legitimate, understandable grievances about what’s going on in the West today.”
Mr Stadlen shot back that Reform was still only polling at around 12 per cent.
He said: “What you’re saying is that there is this great revolt, there’s something happening out there, as Farage says, this great cry to overturn the Westminster elites or the Tory elites.
“Why are they going to do so badly in terms of seats in this election?”
Prof Goodwin admitted Reform may win only several seats due to the brutal first past the post electoral system that punishes smaller parties.
But he warned Labour not to be too gleeful that Mr Farage will split the Conservative vote and pave the way Sir Keir Starmer to come down the middle.
He said: “Over the longer term, over the next three or four or five years, if Farage keeps going as he is and Reform, keep picking up support as they are, we’ll see exactly what we saw between 2016 and 2019, which is Farage becoming a big problem in many of those Labour areas.”
Secret army of mums could swing election
A SECRET army of school-gate mums could swing the election for whichever party wakes up to the damage smartphones are inflicting on kids, actress Sophie Winkleman declared today.
The Peep Show star said the hot-button issue was being sidelined by both Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer despite it being a proper “vote-winner”.
Speaking on Never Mind The Ballots, the campaigner said: “I think they’re quite ignored and they’re much more powerful than politicians’ realise and they’re going to have a big old say in this. It could be a big vote winner.”
A recent poll found 77 per cent of primary school parents want ministers to introduce a flat-out ban for under-16s on smartphones.
Winkleman also warned the Online Safety Act did not go nearly far enough on clamping down on social media companies.
The law compels tech giants to flush out harmful posts on their sites with the threat of multi-billion fines.
But in a piece for today’s Sun alongside co-star Isy Suttie, she called the Tory flagship legislation “a bloated slow-moving fatberg that is never going to keep up with online dangers.”
And she warned the constant doom-scrolling is turning kids’ young brains into mush.
She said: “There has been far too much laxity in terms of letting children be on this rubbish. I think it’s a tragedy – and that’s not an understatement.
“I think a lot of children can’t focus anymore, they can’t read books anymore.
“It’s not just the awful online content they’re watching, it’s the fact they’re watching total garbage: very quick-fire videos, and teachers are saying they can’t focus for five minutes – and that’s brain damage.”
She wants both leaders to commit to tough protections for under-16s accessing online filth via their mobiles.
Their demands have already gained backing of some Tory MPs including former teacher Miriam Cates.
Ms Cates said: “A generation of children are having their brains rewired & childhood stolen by smartphones and social media.
“These products were neither designed for nor tested on children. All the parties’ manifestos should include commitments to ending smartphone and social media use for under 16s.”
Winkleman and Suttie write in today’s Sun: “Even if kids aren’t watching beheadings, violent porn or live torture, their young lives are being wasted and their concentration spans destroyed by endless ten-second videos of pure garbage.
“Not to mention the bullying that goes on once the school gates close, with our kids in their bedrooms and us parents oblivious.”
Winkleman reckons that pledges to splash the cash on mental health support could be saved with a ban on smartphones.
She said today: “I think what I find frustrating is that I think both parties are pledging to spend millions and millions on the mental health crisis for young people, putting mental health professionals in schools and really going mad on spending.
“And if they just did this, I think they could spend a hell of a lot less.”