by Will Jones, The Daily Sceptic
Labour Minister Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, falsely claimed on BBC Question Time last night that most small boat migrants are women and children, but the BBC failed to provide a factual correction. The Mail has more.
This is the moment a BBC Question Time audience turned on a Labour Minister for “outrageously” claiming most small boat migrants are women and children.
More than 14,800 people have arrived in Britain after making the crossing so far in 2025 – making it the worst start to the year on record.
The arrivals continued today, with pictures showing migrants being bussed away from Dover after being intercepted by a Border Force cutter.
The issue was a major topic of debate on last night’s Question Time, which hosted several senior politicians including Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, and Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf.
But Mr Jones provoked fury by claiming in front of a live audience that “the majority of the people in these boats are children, babies and women”.
Following cries of disbelief from members of the public, Mr Yusuf interjected to say that “more than 90% of them are adult men”.
Home Office figures show 73% per cent of small boat arrivals in 2024 – or 26,999 out of all 36,816 arrivals — were adult males.