Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen calls for Gary Lineker to be reinstated on Match of the Day and tells everyone to ‘grow up’.

Former footballer and Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker compared the language the Government used to set out asylum plans to ‘that used by Germany in the 30s’ in a tweet last week, prompting a debate about the BBC’s social media guidelines.

The BBC presenter was criticising the Government’s ‘Stop the Boats’ – or Illegal Migration – Bill, which will mean anyone who enters the UK illegally and who has passed through a safe country will be removed and the Home Secretary will have the power to enforce it.

Under the new law, migrants may be detained for 28 days with no recourse for bail or judicial review, and then for as long as there is a ‘reasonable prospect of removal.’

According to the Refugee Council, 45,755 people were detected arriving by small boats in 2022. This was 60% more than the number in 2021 (28,526).

Responding to the new bill, Mr Lineker tweeted: 'This 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 1930s.'

Commenting on Mr Lineker’s tweet in Parliament, culture secretary Lucy Frazer said it was ‘really disappointing and inappropriate’.

Mr Lineker was not permitted to host the footballing program over the weekend. However, he will be back on air next weekend.

Responding to the row, Mayor Houchen distanced himself from the offending tweet but said it was all a ‘fuss about nothing.’

Footy isn’t politics. I don’t agree with Gary Lineker and he’s completely out of touch but not sure what his political views have to do with him talking about Leicester v Chelsea. Fuss about nothing. Get him back on MOTD and let’s all grow up - more important things in the world

— Ben Houchen (@BenHouchen) March 12, 2023