The migration ILLUSION: Will Kingston EXPOSES TRUTH on falling net migration figures | DEBATE

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]But first, I'm going to kick off with tonight's first debate, and it is about the net immigration figures that the ONS released earlier this week. Now, on the surface, it looks good. 82% decrease in net immigration looks good. But the way that you can describe this summary is uh is in the way that Matt Gubin and Shabbanmood described the net immigration figures on Twitter yesterday. So Shabbana Mammud said net immigration is now at 171,000 down from a high of 944,000 under the Conservatives. This government is restoring order and control to our borders. Matt Gubin, friend of the show, said the UK is now losing its best and brightest and they are being replaced by goat herders from Afghanistan.

[00:00:50]The numbers are going down, but again, this is like saying that you lost 10-0 in a football game and now you're just losing 41.

[00:00:57]The reality is, as Matt Gubin has alluded to, we are still seeing a very rapid change in the cultural makeup of this country. Even if you have a lower net migration figure, you will have more people at the moment who are leaving this country. And as Matt said, the best and the brightest going to Dubai, going to Sydney, going to Asia. And in exchange, we still have a majority of our immigration mix coming from non European Union countries and still too many that are not the skilled workers that will drive this company this country forward. Unfortunately, whilst this number looks good on the surface, we are still at a place where immigration will continue to drive the debate in this country and you will see more and more change in your cities and in your villages. Kai, what did you make of these figures this week?

[00:01:47]>> I think you're right that you have to look under the surface with these figures because one number doesn't give you much. Matt is wrong that this just shows, oh, we're losing everybody because there are under the surface some good statistics. I'll tell you some of them if I may. Uh the ban on international students bringing their family members has cut those number of family members by 90%. The drop in work rellated migration for mainly lowerkilled uh visas. You know the visas that we gave to care workers for instance is down to 1,400 in the year to March. Um visa grants there's been all sorts of restrictions this government and the previous government have brought in that are much needed.

[00:02:27]However, what's not changed is asylum immigration, which is what about 88,000, has not changed very much. And what's also not changed, and you're right, uh, and I think one of the articles that you were sending around talks about this integration emergency that is a phrase from the government's own plan. Um, that is also a recognition of the fact that the huge numbers are here already and that we need to do something about it.

[00:02:52]So, actually, there are lots of good news stories for the government, but it's not enough. I agree. There's nothing more important than keeping your money and your identity safe online. And with so many VPN options available, choosing the right one can be pretty daunting. But this video sponsor, ExpressVPN, is making the choice easier for GBN News viewers. ExpressVPN is offering up to 75% off, plus four extra months free. That's top level security from just £249 a month and you're covered by their 30-day money back guarantee. So, just click the link in this video's description or scan the QR code. Now, remember, when you're online, you are often sharing personal data, so hackers can steal your information, your passwords, your photos, and your bank details in just seconds. But ExpressVPN encrypts your connection, making it virtually impossible for hackers to access your personal information. So why choose ExpressVPN? Well, it couldn't be easier to use. With just one click, you are protected. And ExpressVPN uses militarygrade AES 256 encryption, which is the same standard trusted by the US government to guard their classified information. With their new tiered plans, you can protect up to 14 devices at once and manage passwords securely.

[00:04:12]Live chat support is available 24/7, and it typically connects you in under a minute with a real person. Click the link in this video's description or scan the QR code to get up to 75% off ExpressVPN, plus 4 months extra for free. Start protecting yourself today with ExpressVPN. Renee, I agree with Kai to the extent that Shabbana Mammud has done better than the Conservatives. This is undoubtedly a better result than the Boris wave. At the same time, do you see problems lurking under the surface?

[00:04:43]>> Well, it is, but there are lots of reasons why this figure is what it is.

[00:04:46]And we mustn't forget that still almost 900,000 people came into this country on whatever be visas or whatever. The the real drop has been that they no longer are allowed to bring um dependents. So, students, for example, have not been bringing dependents and that was a big number. We've also had a big um leaving number of people just because of the timing for how long people are here and when they came. Most of the changes that have happened were because of what the conservatives did at the end of their their tenure. Too late. I agree. I absolutely agree. But I think we need to just look at the situation where we've got so many people still coming in, so many people still calling for visas because apparently we can't fill our jobs. And this week in my GP practice, I was faced with a very, very eloquent, lovely, happy, bubbly 23 year old who has a first class honors degree and cannot get a job even in McDonald's. So why do we need more people from abroad?

[00:05:44]>> Easier. Chris, so there's still this argument that comes from the left that says, "Well, we need to have skilled immigration to deal with the NHS, to deal with all of those jobs that English people don't want to do." Surely what Rene is saying disproves this argument.

[00:05:59]>> Just two quick points. Firstly, you're absolutely right. short term we probably do but we need a long-term strategy to for all of those people here in the UK for instance we should be offering free uh scholarships for those people who are are going to university in the skills in which we need if we need doctors why are they paying fees for university if we need nurses that should change every year if we need engineers so that in the next 10 years we will have enough British people coming through that can fill those skill jobs so we're not looking abroad that's something we've done >> say at least at least at least in the NHS is that there doctors and nurses ready to go who cannot get a job at the moment. I don't understand it.

[00:06:35]>> Absolutely absurd. But secondly, um, one of the most sad things about these figures that we saw was the number of young people who want to be productive who are fleeing the UK. I've seen some figures saying it was up to 120,000, some saying 75,000. Either way, it's a big chunk of the people leaving, and it's the biggest number of young people leaving since these statistics actually began. That is a real shame. It's because they don't see opportunity in this country as a result of the government that we've got >> and and Trey, this is the point in that a lot of people look at immigration as an economic issue. But there are many people who will look at their local villages and they will see English men and women or Scottish men and women or Welsh men and women who are leaving and they will see people who are coming from cultures not necessarily compatible with our own and they will go whilst numbers may be going down the replacement of the people in that community means that England looks very different to what it used to. Yeah, and I I do have sympathy for that. I'm not one of these people that thinks, "Oh, it's bad. People shouldn't say that or it's racist." It's a very normal human thing to have. But unfortunately, you've got a lot of and it does come back to the the economics of everything. You've got a country with a very low birth rate. You've got a lot of jobs that does need that do need to be filled. The fact that there was a Boris wave was because there was an economic imperative to have it. It's so linked to GDP. What do you do? Either you completely stop people coming from as you call it incompatible countries and look to a lower GDP, a poor environment. There are such things as like you think there is such thing as incompatible cultures.

[00:08:01]>> I don't think that's true.

[00:08:03]>> But hang on.

[00:08:03]>> I think it might be. Let me just finish.

[00:08:05]>> Immigration increased our GDP >> for a long time. Immigration was a thing that was popping up. There was a really great um article in the Daily Telegraph.

[00:08:14]The Daily Telegraph it spoke about how Britain became addicted to immigration.

[00:08:17]It does. Migration definitely does prop up the GDP of the nation. You got more people coming in, more people spending, more people needing to rent, etc. >> per capita. per capita. Yeah. Per capita of GBT was flat. I get it. That was flat. But it's still it stimulates.

[00:08:32]>> But when it's Can I just say when it does it? Hang on. But when it's overall GDP, what happens is then, which is what we saw with a lot of the immigration because I, you know, I was one of these people during the Brexit debate. I said, look, immigration has added billions to our GDP. It's a great thing. To someone, right, who has whose life has not been improved because GDP per capita hasn't gone up. What it's mean is their wages hasn't gone up. It's meant that the GDP overall has meant that massive corporations have benefited. The tax take from those have gone up, but it's allowed them to suppress wages and means that GB GDP per capita has not gone up.

[00:09:10]So people's lives dayto-day have not improved even though the country itself has got richer. Those two things can happen on services has >> let me just say something I think of what will say and it's important to have this conversation. I think you're talking about demographic changes.

[00:09:26]That's that's the main thing that you think is an issue. Can you say something about people not coming >> from listeners are concerned about?

[00:09:32]>> Yeah, exactly. Demographic changes. But then what's the solution to that is people are not having enough children.

[00:09:36]>> But the reason the reason these are real long-term issues, >> but can I also say the reason that people aren't having enough children is because and all roads lead to this is because they cannot afford to have them.

[00:09:48]The reason they can't afford to have them, >> the reason they can't afford to have them is because of the cost mainly of housing. Housing is the biggest political issue I think in this country or one of them. And the reason that housing is so expensive is because we don't have enough houses. You don't solve that problem by saying, "Right, we're going to keep turning to people from abroad."

[00:10:04]>> Trey makes a fair point in that there are differing birth rates across different ethnic and religious groups in this country. Muslim families do on average have more uh children than uh Anglo-Saxon or or or white uh families in this country. Um Trey makes the point, well, if some people can do it and others can't, maybe it isn't a a a cost of living issue.

[00:10:24]>> Do you know what? This is a whole show we could do on this. We have convinced women that being a mother and having children is a too expensive and b um demeaning. Women now have babies, kill themselves going to work to pay their entire salary to another woman to look after their baby. It's madness. We need to incentivize women to have babies like they do in places like Hungary, in Australia, in France, and we need to actually make it for once now a worthwhile job. Of course, we don't want to lose.

[00:10:53]>> I want to bring Kai in here. Kai, what would you think of a policy similar to Hungary whereby the more kids you have, the less income tax you pay?

[00:10:59]>> Yeah, but there's no proof that the Hungarian example ever worked. Um, in fact, the statistics sort of suggest that it's had a a neutral at best effect on the birth rate. But no, I mean, I think it's easy to give I think in our politics right now, we want to give bungs to solve an immediate problem that we can see, i.e. women aren't having aren't having kids for all the reasons you suggest, Renee. But then we don't fix the underlying problems. That mean everybody regardless of whether they're women or whoever wanting to achieve whatever they want to achieve, do the job they want, lead the life they want to lead. We can't do that if housing isn't fixed, if infrastructure isn't fixed, public services don't work.

[00:11:42]>> I'll pause you there for a second because we do have some breaking news coming in. French authorities have rescued more than 70 migrants from the English Channel today after their boat capsized. Multiple rescue boats were launched to the scene near Hardot Beach several miles south of the French port.

[00:11:59]Rescue services said five migrants were in immediate danger of drowning and were plucked from the sea in a semi-conscious state. Three of the victims, young Kurdish, and Somali migrants were rust rushed to hospital in Bologin. Just 5 hours after this dramatic rescue, JB News can confirm another migrant dinghy has launched from the very same stretch of beach. This comes as around 200 other migrants crossed into the UK waters on the second day of illegal small boat arrivals. Since Friday, more than 600 channel migrants have crossed illegally into the UK. Kai, I'll go to you very quickly on this. Uh this goes to show that weak border policies aren't just bad for the United Kingdom, they cost lives or they risk lives.

[00:12:44]Well, I don't think it's a more complicated issue to I mean that's exactly the reason why for instance we can't repulse boats in the middle of the sea because that actually puts people more at risk of exactly this thing. Um nobody is doubting how risky this crossing is which makes it even more extraordinary that people are willing to go to those lengths. Um but of course we're going to see this as this as the weather improves. However, you know, the the boat crossings are being stopped, are coming down. Um, and the new French deal hopefully is taking some effect. I think it will take a while for us to figure that out.

[00:13:21]>> Rene, all all a bit too hard according to Kai.

[00:13:24]>> Yeah, I mean, it's all a bit too hard while you let the boats come. The only way to stop this, stop the boats coming.

[00:13:29]We're going to have another thousand people this weekend who we're going to have to pay for who are going to go into the system and apply the same pressures.

[00:13:36]It's very, very sad that these people are dying in the channel. They are making their choices though and there are people there ready to exploit them.

[00:13:43]Unfortunately, stop the boats. Do what Australia did. Turn them back.

[00:13:47]>> This footage is from today is what you're saying. Well, look, it is that wonderful time of the year where parks are a buzz, pubs are overflowing, and unfortunately, dingies are racing across the English