A fiery clash erupted on GB News as presenter Alex Armstrong went head-to-head with Conservative MP Matt Vickers over the Government’s handling of illegal migration.
Alex pressed the Tory MP for concrete answers on the party’s plan to tackle the asylum crisis, warning that communities want leadership, not vague promises.
The confrontation came as Alex challenged Vickers on Kemi Badenoch’s role in the recent migrant hotel row in Epping, accusing the Deputy Prime Minister of arriving “late to the crisis” and questioning whether her intervention was “just opportunism.”
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Alex Armstrong press the Tory MP to share their plan
|GB NEWS
Mr Vickers hit back, insisting Conservative councillors had “delivered for the community” and accused Labour of “failing to get a grip” as migrant numbers soar.
He told Alex: "We need to do a hell of a lot more of this. That community should never have been subjected to what it was, and other communities across the country shouldn’t either.
"Towards the back end of the last Government, we saw nearly half of these hotels being closed. We need to close a lot more, and we need to close them more quickly."
Alex pressed him: "But at the end of the day, the dispute about where these people are going needs to be ended and the only way to end it is to stop them coming.
"Labour came out today saying they’re going to speed up the appeals process for asylum seekers and tackle what they call activist judges. Robert Jenrick has been talking about this a lot.
"But where is your plan? Where’s the Tory plan?"
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Mr Vickers replied: "We’ve been clear. You can’t believe a word Labour says. Since they came into office, the number of people arriving in this country is at record levels up nearly 50 per cent.
"They said they were going to close hotels, but hotels are still open.
"We’ve got a deportation bill. It’s there. We’ve said that if you come to this country illegally, you should be removed and sent back. We’ve tried to change the law so that if you come here illegally, you’ll be detained and deported.
"We’ve also said that anyone who commits a crime in this country should be removed not just those who get a sentence of more than 12 months. It’s there in black and white, Alex."
Matt Vickers hot back stating the plan is 'in black and white'
|GB NEWS
The fiery television clash came as the Government unveiled sweeping reforms to Britain’s asylum system.
Ministers announced plans for an independent panel to oversee asylum appeals, replacing judges with trained adjudicators in a bid to speed up decisions.
The Home Secretary said she had inherited a system in “complete chaos” with huge backlogs, vowing to deliver a process that is “swift, fair and independent with high standards in place.”