RISHI Sunak and Keir Starmer tonight locked horns on migration in their last debate before the General Election.
The PM accused Sir Keir of "taking people for fools" over small boats.
He said: "I can tell people what I'm going to do - I'll put them on planes.
"What will you do with them? Don't surrender our borders to the Labour party."
And Rishi won applause from the audience by saying Sir Keir is taking the "people for fools".
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He demanded an answer on whether Sir Keir will do deals with the Ayatollahs in Iran and the Taliban in Afghanistan to send back illegal migrants.
He said: “Where do you think these people come from? Iran, Syria, Afghanistan.
"So when Keir Starmer says he is going to return people, is he going to sit down with the Iranian Ayatollahs?
"Are you going to try and do a deal with the Taliban? It's completely nonsensical.”
The PM added that the UK will be the "soft touch of Europe" under a Labour government.
Rishi battered the Labour chief over his pledge to ditch the Rwanda deportation scheme in place of "smashing the gangs".
A fired up Mr Sunak hit out: "I will tell you this, the Rwandan is a deterrent.
"You just have to listen to what the illegal migrants say themselves.
"One of them just said, 'Most of us are still in France due to the fear we have about another'.
"One said 'I won't cross the channel until the Rwanda plan is destroyed."
Referencing cult classic Jaws, he added: "If Labour win, the people smugglers are going to need a bigger boat.
But Labour leader Sir Keir insisted he can take down smuggling gangs to stop small boat crossings.
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Starmer hit out at the "record numbers" coming across the Channel on the Tories' watch.
He pointed out there is a "99 per cent chance" of not going to Rwanda - saying that isn't a deterrent.
Sir Keir said: "I notice you called the election before any flights take off."
He added: "The Prime Minister and government has effectively lost control of our borders.
"And that means it's not just a border security issue, it's actually a national security issue."
The total number of small boat crossings this year is 13,047 which is nearly 10 per cent higher than the previous record year for arrivals in 2022.
