City of Portsmouth College - Portsmouth South Hustings on 19th June 2024 - video Dailymotion

The News, Portsmouth

Confirmed panellists are:     Stephen Morgan MP - Labour Signe Biddle – Conservative Charlie Murphy – Liberal Democrats Elliott Lee – Green Party Mark Zimmer – Reform Jacob Short – Portsmouth Independent Party

Transcript

00:00Do you think the plan for national service will work?

00:02Do you think the plan for national service will work?

00:06Let's start with the incumbent MP, Stephen Morgan.

00:08No.

00:09And I think if this is the sum of the Conservative government's

00:13parts, then I think that shows you the sorry state

00:16that our country is in.

00:18If the best they can offer is national service, which,

00:21frankly, is a teenage Daz Army, I

00:24think that is a real shame for our country.

00:26I have huge ambitions for Britain.

00:29I have huge ambitions for every young person.

00:31That's why I'm committed to seeing votes at 16

00:34if we deliver a Labour government in two weeks' time.

00:37And I think if this is all the Tories can offer, what a shame

00:40and what a state we're in.

00:41Thank you.

00:42I wouldn't like to do it, and I don't think

00:44anybody should have to do it.

00:46I think it's a desperate act from the Conservative Party.

00:49I think they see reform coming up behind them,

00:52and they're petrified.

00:54They're pulling every lever they can,

00:56and I don't think that's fitting for a governing

00:58party or a party that deserves to be in government.

01:01The army can't handle it.

01:02They've cut it so far that there are now just 70,000 people

01:04left in the army.

01:06If you send all 18-year-olds their way

01:08in national service, they're not going to handle it at all,

01:10and they're certainly not going to function as an army.

01:13There are far more valuable things

01:15that we can do with young people's time,

01:17and I think the government's let us down, really,

01:20our generation, and I think national service writes that.

01:23OK.

01:23Thank you.

01:24Thank you.

01:28Well, no, I think it's a plea.

01:32Where did they get that idea from?

01:34Really?

01:36That is scraping the bottom of the barrel,

01:38and if that's just supposed to make reform UK supporters go,

01:45that's a good idea.

01:46I think they've completely lost it.

01:48So no, I will not be sending you off to conscription camps

01:53and things like that.

01:54So you can relax on that one.

01:56So you're not that bad, are you?

02:02How will you tackle the issue of illegal immigration?

02:06Mark Zimmer, Reform, how will you tackle illegal immigration?

02:12Well, it's basically you've just got to take

02:18control of your own borders.

02:21Everybody's too scared to talk about it.

02:23Great, actually, you brought that one up, Carla.

02:25Thank you.

02:27But everybody's too scared.

02:28All the other parties are too scared to talk about it,

02:32and they sideline it every time.

02:35What I would do, coming back to that question you asked me,

02:38is once they're on the soil, they

02:43need to be detained until you know who they are.

02:46There's people coming over.

02:49You don't know who they are from Adam.

02:51You can't take their fingerprints,

02:52because otherwise that's an invasion of their human rights.

02:57And then when you do get them on board,

03:00and you're trying to process them,

03:02and they're fouled asylum seekers,

03:03then you've got the ECHR telling us, well,

03:08you can't move them again.

03:10So really, we need to leave the ECHR,

03:15and then we'll have more control of our borders.

03:18Stephen Morgan, you're the incumbent MP.

03:20What do you think should be done?

03:22Can I first of all just say, I really

03:23hate this language of othering others,

03:26and the divisive language that we

03:28see in our politics of today.

03:31I'm hugely proud that Portsmouth is a city of sanctuary that

03:35helps some of the most vulnerable people in the world

03:38come to this country and settle here.

03:41And I've got a record of supporting

03:43a number of asylum seekers and refugees in the UK

03:46settle in the UK.

03:47The challenge and the frustration

03:49I've had in the seven years that I've been the MP

03:52is the Home Office have not processed the claims quickly.

03:55Absolutely.

03:56And what is divisive is suggesting

03:59that anyone can be illegal.

04:02That's ridiculous.

04:04What we need to be focusing on is ensuring these people have

04:09safe routes to get to the UK.

04:11If they have safe routes to get into the UK,

04:14we wouldn't have the problem of boats.

04:17Tell me, how are people supposed to be getting from Sudan,

04:21Albania, Eritrea, Vietnam, where people

04:25are fleeing for their lives?

04:29I have direct experience of this.

04:30I've been supporting victims of modern slavery,

04:33human trafficking for over a year.

04:36And these are the people that are coming in the boats.

04:40And they're so vulnerable.

04:42So why is it such a high priority,

04:44I guess is the question, when there's other things that money

04:46We're talking about illegal immigration.

04:48It's high priority because, as Charlie rightly points out,

04:51the humanitarian aspect of it is absolutely horrendous.

04:54I mean, yeah, people, children are dying and being

04:59very badly treated by these horrendous people.

05:01Is that a big enough deterrent for you?

05:03Is that a big enough deterrent for you, children

05:05being trampled in small boats?

05:07Sorry?

05:08Sorry, what?

05:10You claim it's a deterrent.

05:11No, I don't think children being trampled is a deterrent.

05:13I think the Rwanda policy is a deterrent.

05:16I mean, that should be a deterrent.

05:17It's terrible.

05:18These people smugglers are exploiting

05:20these vulnerable people dreadfully.

05:22But your deterrent's clearly not working, then,

05:23is that still happening?

05:24It still happens.

05:25You see people dying.

05:26And they're still trying.

05:27Well, the Rwanda policy has been held up again and again

05:29and again.

05:30Labour voted against it again and again.

05:31Every policy we've tried to put in place

05:34to deter, to stop illegal immigration,

05:36the Labour Party has voted against.

05:38OK, let's hear from the Labour Party.

05:39Stephen Wong, why are Labour voting against it?

05:41Because the plans just won't work.

05:42And as I said earlier, they're unethical,

05:44they're unworkable, and they just

05:47won't deliver what we need to see happen.

05:50And we've set out our plans, as I mentioned earlier,

05:52in my answer to the previous question, I believe.

05:55Right, let's move on.

05:56Let's take another question, this time from Irfan Hidari.

05:59Irfan?

06:00What would your solutions be on the conflict in Gaza?

06:03What is the solution to the conflict in Gaza?

06:08Let's start with the Greens.

06:10Immediate ceasefire, release of all hostages,

06:18end to the arms trades, particularly

06:21our links to the arms trade enforcement,

06:25and a two-state solution for both.

06:29It's one of those things that is, unfortunately,

06:36unless the world unites, the UK is a tiny island that

06:40Israel probably won't listen to, let's be real.

06:43But the way that I see the Gaza and Israel conflict

06:46is both sides are losing, because it's really

06:50Hamas v. the Israel government.

06:53The civilians on both ends are suffering.

06:55And like Elliot said regarding arms trades and things

06:59like that, that is something we have control of.

07:01I think in the immediate term, we

07:03have to suspend arms sales to Israel.

07:05We've seen this humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza.

07:08I think wherever we can suspect that humanitarian law is being

07:12breached, they should not be British weapons there.

07:15The Lib Dems have called for a ceasefire

07:18and for there to be a two-state solution.

07:21I think that's the only way we get lasting peace in Gaza.

07:24And we'd recognize a Palestinian state immediately.

07:29Is there not a risk that the, Mark, Zimmer,

07:33what should be done about Gaza?

07:34What's the solution?

07:36Well, unfortunately, I just feel like I'm parroting

07:39what everybody else has said.

07:42It's horrendous.

07:47There isn't a straightforward answer to it, really.

07:50The way we view things is different to the way

07:54things have been in the past.

07:56It's different to the way things are viewed,

07:59say, in the Midwest, with different religions.

08:03So me saying, do this, do that, accept Palestine as a state,

08:10Israel as a state, it's just, well, basically,

08:17it needs an adult in the room.

08:18That's what it needs, out of all of us, really.

08:23There's nobody that can actually tell us the answer here.

08:25I think it's a really, really difficult issue

08:29that people much, much more experienced in diplomacy

08:32and so on have been working on ever

08:35since the end of the Second World War

08:38and the British Mandate, when the British Mandate ended

08:41in Palestine and the State of Israel was formed.

08:45I think it becomes incredibly emotional.

08:48As a peace-seeking person, we have

08:49to be incredibly careful to separate

08:52a terrible terrorist organization that Hamas is

08:55and must be seen as from the Palestinian people who

09:00are living in Gaza, West Bank, the occupied territories.

09:05Clearly, the way forward is a two-state solution.

09:09It's very easy to say that comes glibly off the tongue,

09:12doesn't it?

09:12But it's a very, very difficult issue to solve.

09:17And everybody needs to be on board with it.

09:20Unfortunately, Netanyahu is not on board

09:23with a two-state solution.

09:24So that, in itself, is very difficult,

09:26while defending Israel's right to defend itself.

09:34Would you prosecute war criminals on both sides?

09:37If war crimes have been committed,

09:39but you have to be very careful how you define them.

09:42Let her answer the question first.

09:44You have to be very careful, and there's

09:46a lot of emotional language being used,

09:48calling what Israel is doing in Gaza genocide.

09:51It is not genocide.

09:53It's terrible.

09:54Their reaction has gone too far.

09:56But it's not the same as genocide.

09:58Do you agree with the ICCJ?

10:00No.

10:01So how many people are going to have to die

10:02before you call it a genocide?

10:04It's 14,000 people.

10:05It's terrible.

10:06It's terrible.

10:07It's terrible.

10:08It's terrible.

10:09It's terrible.

10:10I've already said it's terrible,

10:12but it's not the same as genocide.

10:13They're not deliberately going in there.

10:14They're doing what they need to do to get rid

10:16of Hamas terrorists.

10:17It's a war, not a genocide.

10:19It's a war, not a genocide.

10:20And I'm really sorry that these people.

10:22I've answered your question, but it's a war, not a genocide.

10:26To make sure that we brought an end to the fighting,

10:29we saw the release of hostages, and we

10:32did everything we possibly could to alleviate

10:34the humanitarian crisis.

10:37Labour's manifesto sets out that we will recognise

10:40Palestine as a separate state.

10:42And we absolutely need to work with our international partners

10:45to deliver the peace and stability that that region so

10:48desperately needs.

10:49Is it genocide?

10:51It's for the international courts

10:53to make a decision on whether or not it's genocide.

10:55Do you agree with the arrest warrants?

10:58I'm not a lawyer.

10:59I'm a parliamentarian.

11:00I think it's absolutely right that courts make decisions

11:03on these issues.

11:04Your leader's a human rights lawyer.

11:06Does he agree with the warrants?

11:08He's a political leader representing

11:10a political party.

11:12Irfan, you asked the question.

11:13The SNP called the motion to call for a ceasefire.

11:1725,000 Palestinians died.

11:19Why did you abstain?

11:21Because we put forward our own amendment, which

11:23would have released the hostages and also set out

11:26the course for a permanent and immediate ceasefire.

11:28And that's the case that I've been

11:30making for a considerable amount of months now.

City of Portsmouth College - Portsmouth South Hustings on 19th June 2024

Category

Transcript

Recommended