A TOP Reform UK official got into a blazing row with members of the audience after a TV debate on immigration.
Zia Yusuf, the party’s head of policy, represented Reform on a cross-party Sky News debate on Wednesday night which descended into a shouting match after the cameras stopped rolling.
At the end of the programme, an audience member could be heard saying that Yusuf should be “ashamed” of himself before the feed cut off.
Yusuf responded by shouting back at the audience accusing them of being biased with host Trevor Phillips (below) telling the Reform official to stop berating members of the public, Politico reports.
A Reform official told the news site that the row did take place but insisted that the audience had become abusive against Yusuf first.
They claimed that he had become irate because audience members aimed personal and allegedly racist abuse towards him and said the party would be making a complaint.
Reform UK were approached for further comment.
Elsewhere in the debate, Labour’s Home Office minister Mike Tapp pointed out that the majority of migrants entering Britain illegally were not rapists.
Yusuf asked the minister: “How many British people need to be raped or murdered by people who came to the country illegally?
“What is the acceptable number? Because in our view, the acceptable number is zero.
“Every single one of those tragedies is directly downstream from appalling government policy, from people like the Tories and current Government, who are unwilling and unable to defend and secure our borders.”
Tapp, who became migration minister following Labour’s reshuffle last week, replied: “One rape, one sexual assault is too many, but the majority of those that come over are not rapists and sexual assaulters.
“It’s important that we secure the borders and stop this illegal migration. That is our top priority.”
French authorities said on Wednesday that three migrants had died while three more were believed to be missing after trying to cross the English Channel in an overloaded boat.
Latest Home Office figures show 674 migrants made the journey in nine boats arriving in the UK on Tuesday, bringing the provisional total for the year so far to 30,838.
Asked by host Trevor Phillips why the number of small boat crossing had gone up under the Labour Government, Tapp said: “We’ve inherited open borders, which means it’s not a quick fix.
“When you’ve inherited a system that had 150,000 crossing in just three or four years, it’s unacceptable.”
