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He went on: \u201cOver the last few years half a million people have been welcomed to the UK from Syria, Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Ukraine and it\u2019s right that we\u2019re able to help the world\u2019s most vulnerable people, that\u2019s what everyone wants to do and that\u2019s what I want to do and we\u2019re not going to be able to do that if we persist with a system that\u2019s overwhelmed by people coming here illegally who are not the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing compassionate about that, especially if some of them are dying in the process, so that\u2019s why I think what we\u2019re doing is right. The situation is getting worse and worse and that\u2019s what I believe. We have to act and this is the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Prime Minister added he has looked at the issue \u201clong and hard\u201d and is confident the policy is the right one. \u201cI hope everyone over time realises that this is the right approach because we\u2019ve looked at lots of different things, tried lots of other ways, as I\u2019ve said, and nothing else has worked,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd having looked at this long and hard myself, I\u2019m confident this is the best and right approach to solve this problem, which I think everyone acknowledges is a challenge and it\u2019s one of my five priorities because I think it\u2019s undoubtedly something that the country thinks is important and needs resolving.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question is how do you resolve it in a way that\u2019s fair, compassionate and can resolve it and that\u2019s what I think our approach does.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Lineker is clinging on as the BBC\u2019s best paid presenter at \u00a31.35 million a year despite a furious backlash over his comments.<\/p>\n
BBC staff are bound by strict impartiality rules that prevent them from making political attacks.<\/p>\n
Corporation bosses are under pressure to take action against Lineker, who is a freelance broadcaster but the BBC\u2019s top paid star for the fifth year in a row, after his attack on the government.<\/p>\n
The row was sparked by Lineker\u2019s response on Twitter to a Home Office video unveiling the Government\u2019s plans to stop migrants crossing the Channel on small boats.<\/p>\n
The ex-England striker wrote: \u201cThere is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the \u201930s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said Lineker needs to study the \u201chistory books\u201d after comparing language around the Government\u2019s asylum policy to 1930s Germany.<\/p>\n
He told LBC radio: \u201cThere are some people desperate to gain attention by using deeply offensive and inappropriate language about this and I would gently suggest they use their history books a little bit more carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n