Iain Dale left stunned by calm caller on LBC A composed caller named Mike told Iain Dale on LBC that Britain “will remain almost ungovernable until we have mass deportations”. The exchange was striking because the caller spoke in measured tones, clearly articulating a view held by millions of people across the country. Yet Iain struggled to process it, repeatedly falling back on “you can’t do that”. Mike highlighted the obvious disconnect: the British public have consistently voted for lower immigration, only for politicians to deliver record levels instead. “There’s a massive disconnect between the political class and the people of this country,” he said. “We never gave any consent to this and there’s certainly no mandate for the scale of immigration we’ve seen.” When Iain pushed back, saying you can’t deport people here perfectly legally, the caller was unflinching: Caller: “You mean end indefinite leave to remain?” Iain: “You can do that for future people but you can’t do that for people who have already got it. That would be outrageous.” Caller: “Yeah you can. Of course you can.” Iain: “From a fairness point of view, you can’t suddenly tell people who’ve got a perfect legal right to be here that we’re changing the rules now…” Caller: “You can, Iain.” Iain: “Well you can do that but is that really the kind of country you want to live in?” Caller: “Yes!” Iain continued to argue that you can’t “take it out on perfectly legal, law-abiding people”, clearly unable to grasp how widespread this frustration has become. The public didn’t always feel this way. Years of politicians ignoring the public on immigration have shifted attitudes dramatically. As the caller made clear, people never voted for this transformation and the consequences of fixing it now rest with those who created the problem. Well worth a listen. The gap between Westminster and the rest of the country has rarely been clearer.