During Question Time on BBC One on Thursday, economist Faiza Shaheen challenged GB News host Matt Goodwin on the topic of asylum seekers — and it was a heated debate
Members of the Question Time audience applauded as a guest took right-wing GB News host Matt Goodwin to task on immigration.
Matt Goodwin, a political commentator who presents on the network, had claimed “asylum seekers are often breaking laws” when he addressed the audience in Bradford, West Yorkshire. However, economist Faiza Shaheen swiftly hit back at the academic, arguing in her experience migrants “want the same things as us”.
The audience clapped several times during Ms Shaheen’s passionate defence, a clip of which has been widely shared on social media tonight. She said: “I really want to pull you up, Matt, on this point that ‘they are often breaking laws’. There are, of course, some people who are doing things that are deplorable and wrong and they need to be deported and put in jail, and the rest of it. But those are the minority, and I really want to highlight this.
“These families want the same things as us, they want the same things as us. They want their kids to do well in school… They are coming from places like Iraq, and Afghanistan, and most of us here will have memories long enough to understand we have a role in why those countries are in a bad way.”
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The confrontation came minutes into Thursday’s episode, as the programme began with a question around asylum seekers. Hundreds of asylum seekers are set to be moved to military sites in Scotland and Sussex in a drive to end the use of hotels, the Home Office has confirmed earlier on Thursday.
Appearing to back this move, Ms Shaheen continued: “We should absolutely push away this idea that somehow we should be scared of all asylum seekers, because many of them are just normal people trying to escape very horrible, difficult situations and just build a new life for their families.”
Some 900 men will be temporarily housed at the military sites, previously used to accommodate Afghans during the withdrawal from Kabul in 2021. It is a move away from the use of hotels, contracts for which saw billions of taxpayers’ pounds wasted.
But Mr Goodwin, who in the past described immigration to the UK constitutes an “invasion”, had argued against Labour’s new move. He told the Question Time audience: “Everybody in this country is paying £15billion to accommodate people who are often breaking our laws. These islands are known for having a sense of fairness. We created the idea of fair play, that is not what is happening in this country now.
“We have governments, both Tory and Labour, which are incentivising people to break our laws, enter our country illegally and, to be frank, put women, children, our people at risk.”
Before Ms Shaheen, a mum of one from east London, challenged the Tory, one man in the crowd hit back at him. He argued commentators, such as Mr Goodwin, should put more emphasis on discourse around public services for Brits, including availability of health appointments. It echoed previous calls made on this series of Question Time, including one raised by a man in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire earlier this month.