Richard Madeley accused of being a 'francophobe' in migrant boat discussion

Watch: Richard Madeley challenges Steve Barclay on migrant boats

Richard Madeley has come under fire from Good Morning Britain viewers for appearing to blame the French for dangerously overcrowded migrant boats that resulted in six deaths on Saturday.

Madeley hosted the ITV breakfast news show alongside Kate Garraway on Monday, where he grilled Health Secretary Steve Barclay on the French government's part in trying to stop Channel crossings on small boats to the UK.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, a migrant boat sank off the coast of France, leaving six people dead and more than 50 needing to be rescued.

Madeley suggested to Barclay: "The French are simply going through the motions in stopping these boats and trying to turn them back, but actually, they'd rather they came here than stayed in Calais.

"Are we being taken for mugs, are we paying for some kind of cooperation that's not happening?"

Read more: Carol Vorderman calls 'gaslighting' Home Secretary 'the very worst of the worst'

Barclay began to answer, but Madeley interrupted: "Can you answer the question please - are the French doing what they should be doing, given all the money that we're giving them to try and stop these boats crossing, or are they turning a blind eye?"

His line of questioning did not go down well with viewers, who pointed out that the French had already suggested the UK should have a refugee processing centre in Calais.

One viewer tweeted: "Dear Richard Madeley and assorted francophobes, Macron offered a solution to help with the "migrant crisis" but it was turned down because then what else would the government use to distract from their catastrophic handling of the economy?"

Someone else agreed: "Richard Madeley on GMB blaming the French for the small boats crossing the Channel!! No! They offered to set up processing centres for us! We left the EU so can no longer turn asylum seekers back! Do the Home Office process any claims? This is Madeley Tory deflection!"

Another person added: "Oh f*** off Richard Madeley! Blaming the French for the boats. Why don’t you ask Barclay about Taking Back Control ???"

Viewers accused Madeley of being biased in his questions as one person tweeted: "Switched on this morning to watch the news - Richard Madeley “Blame the French”. Switched off. Embarrassing."

Someone else added: "Shame on you for allowing Richard Madeley to say the majority of the audience blame the French. He has no way of knowing that and his right wing rhetoric was unacceptable. Steve Barclay was allowed to go unchallenged when he blamed Labour. Weak, poor interview."

He also caused controversy by reading out an opinion a viewer had sent in about the reasons that migrants were travelling to the UK.

One person commented: "If Richard Madeley is going to read out typically ill thought through emails about migrants coming for benefits, it really should be his responsibility as a broadcaster to correct them and give details of what they are ACTUALLY entitled to. No surprise that he didn't."

This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/richard-madeley-francophobe-migrant-boat-discussion-152724060.html