Robert Jenrick told the GB News audience: “We’ve got to ensure that once again we are trusted on immigration and I know how to do that.

“It begins by ensuring that we end the drama, we end the excuses, and we just get serious on this issue. And the first topic of course is illegal migration. And on that the real choice facing our country is on the European Convention on Human Rights. This foreign court creates an arsenal of laws which prevents us from removing foreign terrorists and criminals and illegal migrants.

“If we don’t detain and deport people within days we’ll never be able to stop the boats. And if we don’t do that then we will keep on losing. We can’t reform the European court. It requires the unanimous approval of 46 member states. But if we leave then we can write a British Bill of Rights and we can ensure that we bring the insanity to an end.

“So there’s a clear choice here. It’s leave or remain and I’m for leave. And on the millions of people who come into our country legally, we can continue as we have – pressure on housing, public services, cohesion – or we can get Parliament to set a cap on legal migration and ensure that we bring down the numbers. It’s another clear choice, it’s a cap or no cap, and I’m for capping migration.”