GB News urgent migrant announcement sparks fury as presenter erupts on air

GB News' Ben Leo certainly didn't mince his words as he hit out at the Labour government after issuing their "momentous" migrant crisis update. On Thursday (October 10), the 36-year-old broadcaster returned to the helm for his Tonight program, where he revealed a new update from the government on the show. The presenter revealed that a group of migrants who came to the UK illegally by small boat have been deported for the first time under the government's returns deal with France.

He accused the party of "patting themselves on the back" for returning 19 migrants last week following the successful returns of an additional seven individuals last month. The second group flight arrived in France on Thursday before continuing its journey to Eastern Europe as part of the government's regular schedule of returns flights. Further flights to France under this pilot scheme are scheduled to take place over the coming days and weeks.

The journalist declared: "The government has taken another momentous step - that's their words by the way - in tackling Britain's border crisis by returning a whopping 19 migrants in the past week, whoopty-do.

"In a big press release tonight, patting themselves on the back, the Home Office says their grand total of deported migrants is now up to 26 for the month as a second flight touched down in France earlier today.

"Speaking exclusively to GB News, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: 'This is just the beginning. This government will do whatever it takes to dismantle the smugglers' business model, get people out of expensive hotels, and end the chaos at the border.'"

It didn't take long before viewers flooded to X - formerly known as Twitter - to share their frustrations online. One user simply stated: "Labour has failed, the Conservatives will do it better," as another pointed out: "That just means France has to send us 26 asylum seekers in return, it's completely mindless." A third fumed: "So a 0.26% chance of being deported under Labour's one-in, one-out deal. Utter idiots!"

The update comes after it was revealed that more than 10,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel since the deal came into force on August 3, a staggering 40% increase compared with the same period last year. It included 1,075 migrants making the dangerous journey aboard 15 dinghies on Wednesday (October 8) this week alone.

Wednesday's huge number of Channel arrivals was the fourth day so far this year to top 1,000. People traffickers have begun using deadly "mega dinghies" to send migrants on their perilous journey across the Channel. At the end of last month, one of the massively overloaded inflatables - at around 40ft - was snapped on the Channel for the first time.

Labour claims the one-in, one-out scheme will undermine people traffickers' tactics and "smash the gangs" by persuading would-be migrants that crossing the Channel may be fruitless. However, the programme has had a slow take off after being mired in legal complications.