GB News presenter Martin Daubney was forced to cut off an interview after clashing with Jonathan Portes over immigration
Martin Daubney was embroiled in a fierce clash (Image: GB News)
GB News presenter Martin Daubney was forced to bring an interview to a sudden, grinding halt after a fierce clash over immigration. The host welcomed economist Jonathan Portes onto his show via video link to discuss the government’s latest Budget – but things soon erupted into a fiery row, with Portes fuming: “We’ve been through this before!”
Martin kicked off the conversation by saying: “We can blame Brexit, we can blame the Conservatives, we can blame Ukraine, we can blame Donald Trump, we can blame… I don’t know, a comet striking from above. How about looking in the mirror and saying, ‘Perhaps we’ve got things wrong. Perhaps having the highest tax hikes since World War II already was a bad call.’
“How about saying it was a bad call to give £22million to carbon capture abroad? How about saying it was a bad call to give £30billion plus away on the Chagos Islands deal?”
Portes told him in response: “Well you asked about the productivity downgrade and that very clearly is not down to the current government, that’s just a fact. Right? We should get this straight. The productivity downgrade does, and this is a fact, reflect Brexit, reflect austerity. That’s simply where it comes from.
“There’s no point in talking about Chagos and suggesting that has anything to do with the productivity downgrade when we know-“
He was cut off by the host, who interrupted: “Because we could use that money for other things, surely?! Instead of doing a great giveaway we could use that money-“
But Portes insisted: “Well I think you’ll find that a few hundred million pounds a year, I have no particular view on the Chagos, but a few hundred million pounds a year isn’t going to make much difference to, as you say-“
Daubney made the point: “Well we wouldn’t need to put the inheritance tax on farmers, for example! We wouldn’t need to have cut the Winter Fuel Allowance, for example. It’s about choices! We could make choices to help British citizens.”
The clash over immigration turned fierce (Image: GB News)
Things soon turned to the topic of immigration, with Portes saying: “We know that immigration, overall, makes a positive contribution to public finances.” Daubney snorted and replied: “No, it doesn’t.”
An irate Portes said: “Sorry, we’ve been through this before, Martin.”
Daubney was clearly fuming as he said: “We’ve had this conversation before, it’s groundhog day. If you cherry pick Australians, Americans, Canadians, Japanese, those who pay the most, you’ve got a point. If you look at low-skilled, low-grade immigration, the kind we’ve seen in the Boris wave and under the current Labour government, it doesn’t!”
But Portes held his own, replying: “I’ve corrected you on this before, Martin, so let me do it again.” After he cited figures, Martin revealed they were out of time – and was forced to abruptly cut off the interview.
He told Jonathan: “Jonathan, I’ve been told we must move on. We’ll have this conversation another time, no doubt. It is always a pleasure having on the show Jonathan Portes.”
