'Twiddling their thumbs!' Tom Harwood left raging after Mark White reports on first migrants descending on army training camp

WATCH NOW: Tom Harwood rages as Mark White reports on the first asylum seekers moving into Crowborough army camp

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GB NEWS

Susanna Siddell

By Susanna Siddell


Published: 22/01/2026

- 15:11

East Sussex residents have long-campaigned for Labour to backtrack on its plans over safety concerns

Tom Harwood was left raging on air after a group of migrants was moved into an army training camp in East Sussex in the dead of night.

In the Government's bid to end the use of asylum hotels, Labour is using two military barracks to house up to 900 asylum seekers, with one in Inverness and another in Crowborough.


The Home Office has since confirmed the East Sussex site, surrounded by a leafy rural community, now houses 27 male migrants as of last night.

But this number will soon inflate to more than 500 - despite persistent protests held by worried families in the area who have expressed concerns over women and children's safety.


GB News' Home and Security Editor highlighted "the great deal of disappointment local residents faced as they woke up this morning".

Reporting live from the Sussex town, Mark explained: "Local people felt that housing up to 500 young male asylum seekers here, this camp was just not at all suitable.

"This is a small rural community that doesn't have the facilities to be able to look after so many people if they decide to wander into the local towns such as Crowborough, which they will be free to do.

"As asylum seekers they are not going to be locked up in this facility, there will be buses laid on to take them to local destinations.

Tom Harwood and Dawn Neesom

Tom raged at the events unfolding in East Sussex

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GB NEWS

"So clearly there's a great deal of concern that people have in the community, both about safety, about the potential for criminality and just generally about the fact they say that the area itself and the facility is just not suitable."

But Tom challenged Mark's report, adding the migrants "surely have to go somewhere".

"We have more than 100,000 migrants that that are in this country and living off the taxpayer in Government-supplied accommodation," he exclaimed.

Mark explained the Government said it was "determined" to plough on with their project, despite fierce local opposition.

\u200bInside the Crowborough Camp

Inside the Crowborough Camp

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HOME OFFICE

He added: "It will be cheaper in the long run. The conditions will be more austere than in a hotel, which they hope will be a factor in trying to drive down the attractiveness of coming across the English Channel in the first place.

"But of course, you've got to weigh that up against the fact that in smaller rural communities where many of these old military bases are.

"They say it's just not suitable having hundreds of bored young men free to roam around these communities."

But Tom unleashed his rage over the location of the site, fuming: "The local residents can't get a doctor's appointment. Dentist appointment? There's a school just down the road from there as well.

"These people are waiting for their claims to be processed, sometimes for years, when they're not allowed to do anything and they can't do anything, and they're sitting there twiddling their thumbs or going out and making trouble.

"I mean, it's a terrible situation."

Weighing in on the debate, fellow co-host Dawn Neesom said: "Well, maybe they shouldn't come here in the first place.

"If you enter the country illegally, you should be sent straight back. You have no right to be here."


Labour insisted Crowborough is just "part of a wider programme of reform to close every asylum hotel", shifting blame onto their Conservative predecessors.

A Home Office spokesman said: "Reducing pull factors to the UK, such as tackling illegal working, is also another key strand of work to reduce demand on the asylum system.

"Just last week it was announced that illegal working arrests and raids have reached the highest level in British history thanks to relentless activity by the Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement teams.

"Latest figures reveal the number of raids have soared by 77 per cent in the UK since the government came into power, leading to an 83 per cent rise in arrests (July 2024 to end of December 2025)."

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