Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's belief that the Rwanda plan is a "gimmick" and "not a deterrent" has been dubbed an "outright lie" by commentator Carole Malone.

The Labour leader pledged to create a new 'UK border force' to replace Rishi Sunak's plan to send illegal migrants to Rwanda.

The new border security commander may earn "more than Starmer", according to reports, with a reported salary of £200,000.

Earning more than £30,000 above Starmer's maximum annual salary, the new Border Security Command will collectively use officers from the National Crime Agency, Border Force and MI5 to smash the people smuggling gangs.

Reacting to the reports on GB News, Carole Malone questioned what the proposed new border command "will do differently to the existing one", the Small Boats Operational Command.

Malone explained: "The Small Boats Operational Command has a boss, General Capps. It's been tackling the gangs for quite a long time now.

"Starmer has made a big deal with his new command, saying 'this is the thing that's going to change it'. No it isn't."

Delivering her verdict on the new command, Malone told GB News: "It isn't going to change it. It's going to do exactly the same as what this other one's done."

Criticising the plans further, Malone highlighted Starmer's claim that the Rwanda plan, introduced by the Conservatives, is a "gimmick" and "not a deterrent".

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Slamming Starmer's remarks, Malone fumed: "He's kind of trumpeted this Border Command, trying to make it a replacement for the Rwanda scheme. He's said the Rwanda scheme was a gimmick and it was not a deterrent. That's a lie. That's an outright lie.

"It was a deterrent, there's evidence of that. The Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland, Micheal Martin, said the 50 per cent increase on migrants crossing the border from England to Ireland was absolutely down to the threat of the Rwanda scheme. The former immigration boss of Border Force said exactly the same thing."

Malone continued: "So that's the evidence they are saying, and they're also saying that this new border force will do nothing different to the new one."

Commentator Jonathan Lis disagreed with Malone, asking: "If it was a deterrent, then why did we have the biggest number of crossings during the election campaign?"

Malone responded: "Because the smugglers were telling the people wanting to cross that they had to do it quickly, and charged them £10,000 for the privilege to get across before the election."

Lis hit back, arguing: "We don't know whether Rwanda was ever going to be a deterrent. The point is, Rwanda was never going to work.

"It was only ever going to take 500 people a year anyway, and leaving the rest of the thousands of people in limbo. And besides that, it was an inhuman policy."