A WOMAN who suggested "knifing" migrant boats sparked audience laughter on Question Time during a discussion about the Government's Rwanda policy.
The woman was picked for comment by host Fiona Bruce and questioned why the French couldn't "have like a knife or something" and "just do it" before they sail across the Channel.
The audience then collectively laughed as Bruce tried to clarify she meant puncturing the boats rather than migrants themselves.
The woman said: "I don't agree with pushing back the boats, but what I think should be done is, you see all the migrants with the pirates putting them on the boats, why can't the French have like a knife or something and just do it before it even gets in the water?"
Bruce interrupted her to say: "Just to be clear, you mean to puncture the boat, not to use it on anyone?"
Confirming that was what she meant, the woman went on: "No [not to use it on anyone]. Then the boats wouldn't even be in the water for them to drown, because they wouldn't get off the beaches."
The debate was held after the Supreme Court ruled the UK Government's policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their applications processed was unlawful.
Rishi Sunak is now planning emergency legislation to rescue the policy including a new treaty with Rwanda so that flights could begin in the spring.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said there were "substantial grounds" to believe those deported to Rwanda could be sent back to places where they would be unsafe.
Ex-home secretary Suella Braverman - who had been in charge of the plan until this week when she was sacked - suggested in The Telegraph drafting a bill to deport people to Rwanda which specifically excluded “all avenues of legal challenge”.
She said ministers should ignore human rights laws and obligations in their "entirety" to push it through, adding "tinkering with a failed plan" would not achieve the Government's aims.
