Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has brutally torn into Labour on GB News, accusing them of fostering a “national crisis”.
Speaking to Stephen Dixon and Ellie Costello on the People’s Channel, Mr Philp said Labour’s policies have put the safety of women and girls across Britain at risk.
He said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer “must lie awake at night in a cold sweat” thinking about his decision to cancel the Rwanda plan.
Mr Philp’s counterpart Yvette Cooper is set to unveil a number of reforms to Britain’s asylum system as MPs return to Westminster following the summer recess.
Chris Philp said Labour has failed to introduce a proper deterrent
|GB NEWS / PA
But the top Tory made it clear he is not impressed with the plans he believes are a last-ditch bid to dress up what is an increasingly desperate situation.
“Since the election, the numbers of illegal immigrants in these asylum hotels have actually gone back up again. It's gone up by about eight per cent so I accept it should never have got to 400. That is a fair point. I accept that.
“But the last Government did get it down from 400 to 200 in nine months, and if that rate of reduction had continued right now, we'd have no illegal immigrants in hotels at all.”
Ms Cooper is set to unveil changes to the “broken” asylum system which she hopes will turbocharge Labour’s bid to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.
Mr Philp joined Stephen Dixon and Ellie Costello on GB News
|GB NEWS
Proposals include an overhaul to the refugee family reunion process, which Ms Cooper says will give the system “greater fairness and balance”.
Families will have to show they have sufficient funds while tighter rules surrounding English language requirements will be introduced.
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Mr Philp said on GB News the new plans will not prove to be enough of a deterrent to tackle what he says is now a “national crisis”.
He took particular issue with Sir Keir deciding to scrap the Rwanda asylum plan on the same day he became Prime Minister.
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The Prime Minister announced the plan, which would have seen illegal immigrants relocated to Rwanda for processing, asylum and resettlement, would be replaced by the Border Security Command
“It’s a border crisis, it’s also a public safety crisis”, Mr Philp said on GB News.
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“We’ve seen hundreds of these illegal immigrants in the hotels getting charged with serious criminal offences, including sexual assaults against women and girls as young as eight.
“One of these men was convicted recently for raping a 15-year-old girl, and part of his defence in court was to say it was he didn't understand it was wrong because of his culture.
Yvette Cooper will introduce an overhaul to the asylum system
| POOL“He was from Afghanistan, which is an absolutely disgraceful thing to say, but it highlights that this border security crisis is also putting women and girls at risk.
“Enough is enough. It has to end. But this Government is too weak to do what is needed. What is needed is to remove everybody, every single person, 100 per cent, who crosses the English channel by small boat.
“They're just not willing to do it because they don't understand it's a crisis, and as they themselves have admitted, they're more interested in the so-called human rights of illegal immigrants than they are in protecting the British public.”
The Home Secretary will tell Parliament her proposals will be “putting much stronger foundations in place so we can fix the chaos we inherited and end costly asylum hotels”.
She will say: “That means ensuring we have the powers we need to pursue the criminal smuggling gangs profiting from small boat crossings that other parties have voted against, but also new firm rules in place to manage the asylum system so we can close hotels.”
Ms Cooper is also set to provide an update on the proposed changes to the asylum appeals process.
Mr Philp, who voiced his frustration on GB News earlier, will have the opportunity to do so once more in a Commons showdown with the Home Secretary today.
She will likely counter by raising failures by the previous Tory Government, who held power while more than 127,000 small boat migrants arrived in the UK.