James O'Brien: Why do we treat Ukrainian refugees differently from refugees who travel in small boats?
16 December 2022, 16:12
James O'Brien: Why do 'we treat' Ukrainian refugees and refugees who travel in small boats differently?
James O'Brien questioned why we treat Ukrainian refugees differently to refugees who enter the UK in small boats, and has taken aim at Suella Braverman for circulating "spurious, bogus, often racist arguments".
After reports that an 11-year-old boy from Afghanistan was amongst the people saved from the wreckage of a capsized boat in the Channel, James O'Brien turned his listeners' attention to the announcement of raised payments for people hosting Ukrainian refugees.
James took aim at Suella Braverman for spreading a negative rhetoric around refugees who cross the Channel as the country continues to welcome Ukrainian refugees.
He criticised the Home Secretary for referring to migrants as "invaders" as he tied together her use of "military language" with the "military helicopter" she used to fly to a migrant processing centre, adding that the connection "is not accidental".
“And the enemy includes an 11 year old boy”, he said, before contrasting the UK’s response to Ukrainian refugees as a “rare example of us getting something right”.
He asked: “Why do we treat these two categories of refugees so differently?”
James continued: “Why does nobody say, for example, they should all stay in Poland?
"Because that’s the first safe country you get to when you come out of Ukraine.”
He added: “Why do the spurious, bogus, often racist arguments that I hear about refugees in general not apply to Ukrainians?”
