Immigration question sparks heated debate at Blackpool North and Fleetwood hustings

The event held at The Venue in Cleveleys heard warnings climate change would prompt more migration as people in affected countries struggled for food.

One member of the public told the panel - made up of candidates standing in the Blackpool North and Fleetwood constituency - 'immigration happens for many different reasons'. She said: "We have to treat it with dignity and understanding. We're all human beings in this room."

Another audience member said she had come to the UK to work in science and research and paid taxes and fees for NHS care the same as anyone else.

Green Party candidate Tina Rothery said she believed the country should stop boats from crossing the Channel but should ensure the right routes were in place for immigration.

She said: "We took part in wars that made people's lives so difficult they had to escape those places to come here. And we are going to have a climate crisis where people are experiencing greater floods and greater droughts, and that will impact food production."

She said immigration should happen 'correctly' so "we end up with our doctors and our nurses and care workers and this rich vibrant society that benefits all of us".

Latest figures show more than 50,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, including more than 13,000 so far in 2024.

Liberal Democrat Bill Greene said: "We do have people who are economic migrants, but we are going to get more in coming years because we are allowing their world to be destroyed by our greed.

"We have got to stop climate change. Their food is being destroyed, their land is being destroyed, their water is drying up. They are going to move to where they can see there is water, food and riches and that's here."

Other candidates are Dan Barker (Reform UK); Lorraine Beavers (Labour); Dan Cresswell (Social Democratic Party); Gita Gordon (Independent); Paul Maynard (Conservative) and James Antony Rust (Official Monster Raving Loony)