David Cameron was mauled last night over immigration by a Tory voter who accused him of betraying supporters by allowing parts of the country to descend into 'no go areas'. The Prime Minister was repeatedly battered on the issue by a live studio audience as he insisted that cutting ties with Brussels was a 'bad way' to cut numbers entering the UK. In a bruising ITV referendum debate where Mr Cameron was told his Brussels renegotiation had been a 'humiliation', he pleaded with people not to vote for the 'Little England of Nigel Farage'.
But father-of-three Harry Boparai told the Prime Minister he had allowed 'uncontrolled immigration', which had caused his family's quality of life to plummet. He said: ‘I have no GP as they are all full in my area, I can’t get on the housing ladder and have three kids in one room. 'The place where I grew up was once a lovely area but it is now a no-go zone. How is the EU and uncontrolled immigration working for me, a 40-year-old Brit who has been working full time since the age of 16?’
Let down: Airport worker Harry Boparai said he could not get a GP, could not buy a house and had three children in one room because of 'uncontrolled' immigration
Plea: David Cameron tried to convince Mr Boparai, left in the audience, that staying in the EU was right for Britain - but the Tory voter said the PM had his 'roll of the dice' and it was the wrong one
Bruising: Mr Cameron was battered over his immigration while Nigel Farage, who also appeared on the show, was accused of legitimising racism Cameron confronted over immigration 'influx we can't control' Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%0:00 Play Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 2:30 Fullscreen Need Text
Mr Cameron responded: 'I would say really frankly that if we want to build houses, if we want to invest in our health service, if we want good schools for our children, we have got to strengthen and safeguard our economy. 'Coming out of the single market, which is what the Leave campaign want to do, that would damage our economy'. But Mr Boparai, an airport worker, hit back and said: ‘Sorry Mr Cameron. I voted for you in the last election because one of the things on your manifesto was to get immigration down. You haven’t been able to do that because you’re not allowed to do that. That’s the bottom line. 'I’ve seen my standard of living and my family’s standard of living go down because of this influx that we cannot control. I’m sorry to say but your closing statement last week was "if we leave the EU, we’re rolling a dice with our children’s future". I think quite the opposite. By you telling us to stay in, you’ve rolled that dice already.’
Ukip leader Nigel Farage was slammed by the group of voters for 'scaremongering against non-white people' and dire predictions about Cologne-style sex attacks in this country unless we leave the EU. But taking to the stage afterwards, Mr Cameron was given an even rougher ride. Official figures revealed last month that net migration is running at 333,000 a year - with 184,000 of that coming from the EU. Some 77,000 did not have jobs lined up when they arrived - and the audience hammered him for it.
Argument: Nigel Farage used his speech to wave his passport and said it should be British - saying leaving the EU was the best way to keep the UK safe
Official immigration statistics out at the end of May revealed net migration to Britain was still running at near all time highs despite Government promises to cut numbers to the tens of thousands
David Cameron tried to batter Nigel Farage over the economy last night. He said: 'He (Farage) kept on talking about "GDP isn't all that matters". GDP is the size of our economy. It is the combination of all the wealth our country creates. 'He is basically saying it doesn't really matter. He is so keen to get us out of Europe that he is prepared to sacrifice jobs and growth along the way. We mustn't do that.' Mr Cameron said his renegotiation deal was the best way to cut numbers, and insisted that he had ended the culture of 'something for nothing' by ensuring EU migrants did not have full access to benefits for four years and had to leave the country if they did not find a job within six weeks. Anthony Gould said the PM was ‘basically humiliated’ by the EU in his renegotiation when his plea to reduce free movement was rejected. Mr Gould said he wanted to recruit skilled workers – but instead Britain was being flooded with low skill workers.
But the PM insisted: ‘Obviously control of immigration is an important issue and important challenge and one of the ways we try and control it from the rest of the world is we should do more to train our own people here to do the jobs the British economy is delivering. ‘If there is a shortage of a particular occupation we say to business OK, go and seek that overseas, but what I want to see is more apprenticeships, more people going to university, more young people trained to do the jobs our economy is creating. ‘That, probably, is the best way of reducing immigration and making sure there are jobs and livelihoods for our people.’ He added: 'I think there are good ways of controlling immigration and immigration and there are bad ways of controlling immigration.' 'A good way is saying people can come here... but they have to pay in before they can get out. 'And when it comes to immigration from outside the EU - which of course is more than half - we do put a limit on the numbers for economic reasons.'
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