‘They deserve a medal’: Caller praises fisherman and crew who saved 43 migrants after boat capsized

14 December 2022, 16:53

This caller praised the rescue efforts of the fisherman and his crew, and criticised the 'lack of humanity' towards migrants more generally.

An emotional caller believes the fisherman and his crew who rescued 43 migrants this morning should be given a medal.

Tom in Romsey told Shelagh Fogarty: “That skipper and his crew deserve a medal in my opinion.”

“They do”, Shelagh agreed.

Tom said he understood the government’s desire to be “cracking down on the smuggling gangs”.

“Let’s do that”, he said. “But why can't we provide a safe place for people to register and come across?”

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The Romsey caller suggested that migrants should come to the UK by ferry, with the journey pre-paid for them, and that if it turns out they are illegal, the money could be paid back.

“If they’re shepherded across with the right security people, surely they could be taken straight to processing centres and see if they've actually got a valid claim to be here”, he explained.

“They have no choice” he said.

Tom criticised the “lack of humanity” shown more generally towards migrants, saying: “These poor people have been forced into this. It’s pretty upsetting.”

“There is no safe way for these people to register and to come across, and we could do that and crack down on the gangs at the same time, but let's give them a safe way to get here and be processed”, he added.

“I think many of us share Tom’s emotion about it”, Shelagh concluded.

This call comes the day after Rishi Sunak announced a five-point plan to tackle illegal immigration and clear the asylum seeker backlog within a year.

Only four per cent of asylum seeker claims were processed last year.