Labour has hinted foreign aid spending will increase if Sir Keir Starmer’s party wins the General Election.
Shadow minister Sarah Jones said Labour wants to be “more influential” in international development to end the Channel migrant crisis.
And she again appeared to confirm that a Government led by Keir Starmer would agree a migrant deal with the EU.
This could see around 100,000 additional asylum seekers arrive in the UK, the Conservatives have warned.
Asked how Labour would deport Channel migrants to countries such as Afghanistan or Yemen, Ms Jones said: “Of course, there will be people coming across who are completely legitimate asylum seekers and we need to deal with that.
“Of course we do. That’s why a Labour Government would want to be more influential in the International Development space because a lot of the sources of this problem, war, famine, lots of other reasons, we could be doing much more in that space.”
The UK is spending 0.5 per cent of its income on international development. But Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, in November, suggested that there was no prospect of foreign aid increasing to 0.7 per cent in the next five years.
More than 500 migrants crossed the Channel in ten boats on Wednesday, the highest daily total so far this year.
This means more than 4,000 have reached the UK this year.
That is ten per cent higher than this time last year. At least 300 more migrants are believed to have crossed in six boats.
Ms Jones and former Home Office minister Rachel Maclean also clashed over whether Channel crossings are falling.
Rishi Sunak is facing a fraught battle to get his Rwanda plan through Parliament.
The House of Lords again voted to water down the Government’s bid to end the Channel migrant crisis.
This is despite warnings that further amendments to the Rwanda Bill would “perpetuate the endless cycle of legal challenges”.
Flights are now unlikely to take off before June as officials believe it will take at least six weeks to get planes off the ground once the legislation gains Royal Assent.
But Ms Maclean insisted the Government is still determined to ensure flights to Kigali take off in the coming months.
She said: “We don’t need plan B because we are still committed to plan A.
“The British people do expect us to deal with this issue of illegal migration, when we see people coming across the Channel, dying in small boats.
“When you are looking at the people who are talking in the House of Lords, they are opposing this Bill, a sensible plan to tackle an issue that affects countries all around the World.
“Other countries have a similar plan to deter arrivals. We have to have a deterrent to deal with this.”
“They are turning their back on the people dying in the Channel.”
But attention is also turning to how Labour will be able to deter migrants if it scraps the Rwanda plan.
And it has led to fears many more migrants will be effectively stuck in the UK.
Think tanks have warned there are more than 55,000 asylum seekers unable to work legally in the UK or claim benefits.
But they also cannot be deported.
Host Fiona Bruce told Labour’s Sarah Jones: “There are people you can’t deport. The majority of the people coming across the Channel are Afghanistan. Are you suggesting you are going to return them? People to Libya? People to Yemen?
“You won’t be returning people to those countries.”
Ms Jones insisted she was only speaking about those refused asylum.
But Ms Bruce said: “The majority of people coming are from Afghanistan and you are not suggesting you are going to return people there?”
The Shadow Home Office minister said: “Part of the role of the returns team would be based in other countries to do deals in the way we have before about how we manage this collective problem. You have a deal where you can work out where people will go and where you can manage a fair system. It’s time for a reasonable and fair system.”
