Zia Yusuf said men who “hate this country” are boarding small boats destined for Britain.
A furious row erupted over claims thousands of “fighting age males” are crossing the English Channel on small boats.
Labour’s Mike Tapp, the new immigration minister, slammed Reform’s Zia Yusuf for using the phrase and “dialling up” the rhetoric.
But Mr Yusuf said men who “hate this country” are boarding small boats destined for Britain.
He told the Sky News debate: “In the last eight years, more people have turned up on the beaches, illegally, uninvited, the majority of them men, the majority of them fighting age men that hate this country including countries like Afghanistan, Syria.”
Zia Yusuf clashed with Mike Tapp in a furious row (Image: Sky News)
And Mr Tapp shouted: “You wrap yourself in our flag but you will do nothing. You are plastic patriots.”
The Reform policy chief pressed on: “You are advocating, as the immigration minister, for this country to leave our borders undefended and leave them open in the name of ‘British values’.
“What you’re doing is betraying the British people.”
Some 30,838 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, up 37% compared to last year.
At least 20 people are believed to have died while attempting to cross the Channel this year.
Mr Tapp insisted “racism is unacceptable”.
He added: “We can secure the border, we can and we will move people into MOD sites away from hotels.
Mike Tapp defended Labour’s record on immigration (Image: Sky News)
“But we do that within our British values, and that’s being strong, but also being decent, being firm, but also being fair.
“Racism is absolutely unacceptable.”
During a heated row, Mr Yusuf also insisted: “The country is full. Our infrastructure is overwhelmed.”
He added: “If you ask most British people, you know, with respect Trevor, you said it’s dividing the nation. I disagree with that.
“I think people are united now.
“We’ve had too much migration. We haven’t had border security. And what this is driving is this sense amongst British people is that they are being taken for mugs.
“They are being asked to pay for lives of leisure for people whose first act upon coming into this country was to break the laws.
“My own DOGE team has found asylum seekers and illegal migrants being taken to the circus at the taxpayers’ expense, trips to the cinema, Domino’s Pizza, tens of thousands of pounds of McDonald’s, free TV.”
Mr Yusuf also accused the Tories of creating “safe and illegal routes” into the UK.
But the Conservatives‘ Kieran Mullan said: “The number of people crossing has gone up. It’s at record levels compared to when Labour took office.
“The number of people in hotels is higher. Mike doesn’t like to hear the reality.
“But those are the facts about what’s been happening since Labour took office.
“What I think is the answer to this is an underlying deterrence.
“Deterring people from crossing in the first place.
“You do that by saying ‘if you come here, you will be deported’. Reform wants to do the same thing, but their plan relies on other countries agreeing with us to do that. That’s not proven successful.”
