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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Gemma Jones

GMB's Adil Ray grills MP on asylum seekers being sent to Rwanda in heated interview

Adil Ray became heated in an interview with the illegal migration minister on Good Morning Britain.

Tom Pursglove, minister for justice and tackling illegal migration, was on the ITV show to discuss how the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said a £120million pilot scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda would save lives. However, host Adil was very against the scheme as he claimed Rwanda "isn't a safe place".

He asked the MP: "If you had to would you move your family to Rwanda?" - a question which Mr Pursglove struggled to answer in a straightforward manner.

READ MORE: ITV GMB's Charlotte Hawkins urges drivers to 'be careful' around Adil Ray

The minister replied: "I don't think that that is relevant."

Adil continued to push the question, saying: "Of course it's relevant. If it's not good enough for you then why is it good enough for a Syrian or Afghan refugee? It has got to be somewhere that we think is safe. These are human beings, these are people who have come to us for help."

"You are saying that you wouldn't go, would you? You wouldn't go to Rwanda?"

Mr Pursglove tried to deflect the question as he started: "Our position is very clear..." However, Adil persistently interrupted him with the same repeated question of: "Would you live in Rwanda?"

Finally, the minister answered. He said: "I am somebody who is a British citizen who lives in the United Kingdom." Adil replied: "So why are you asking somebody else to go and live in a country that you wouldn't live in yourself?"

Mr Pursglove replied: "The situation with regards to Rwanda is that this is a country that has existing relationships with the UNHCR who place refugees in that country." The minister's video link started to lose connection but he could be heard saying that he would be happy to "visit" Rwanda.

Adil ended the interview as he said: "Oh well we lost him. I think that he's happy to visit Rwanda but not sure that he said he's happy to live in Rwanda, but we don't know. But there was a hesitation I thought."

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