'We're being fobbed off': Chris Philp hits out at food delivery companies allowing illegal migrants to work under app 'loophole' - 'Put your house in order!'

Speaking to GB News, Philp said Britain is being "fobbed off" by the app's loophole, and declared the food delivery companies are not "doing enough" to crack down on the practice.

Recalling what he found in his investigation, Philp explained: "I went to an asylum hotel and there was a pen absolutely stuffed full of bikes with panniers on the back for Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, and the illegal immigrants within, in some cases, just hours of illegally entering our country.

"They're illegal immigrants coming here by small boat. They're working on platforms like Deliveroo, and the people smugglers are telling these illegal immigrants in France, if they come to the UK, then they can work here easily."

Highlighting how the loophole is another "pull factor" for illegal migrants coming to Britain, Philp added: "It's a pull factor that is attracting illegal immigrants to come from France and Germany into the UK. The Home Office run that hotel and dozens of other hotels like it.

"So the Home Office, Yvette Cooper should be shutting that down. Why is she paying our taxpayer money to accommodate these illegal immigrants in hotels and letting them run illegal working right under the Home Office's nose?"

Calling out the food delivery companies for the lack of action in shutting down operations, Philp told GB News: "Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats are frankly allowing this to happen on their platforms. They claim they do checks, but that is absolute nonsense, as evidenced by the fact that all those illegal immigrants in the hotel are working.

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"Any checks they're doing, if they are doing any for that matter at all, are clearly not working. They are facilitating and encouraging illegal immigration.

"The Home Office should come down on those companies, Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats like a ton of bricks."

He stated: "Prosecute them, fine them into next week and frankly, if they can personally prosecute the people running those companies as well because they are creating a magnet, a pull factor for illegal immigrants to come to the UK."

Stressing the risk to public safety in allowing illegal workers to operate under different accounts, Philp cautioned: "Imagine a lone woman ordering a Deliveroo maybe to her house or flat late at night, thinking that the delivery driver is known to Deliveroo.

"But because of all this practice of renting out logins, either with or without Deliveroo's knowledge, the person who actually turns up to the door at midnight could be, frankly, absolutely anyone, including an illegal immigrant who only turned up to the country a few days beforehand. So I think it's a safety risk as well."

Asked by host Martin Daubney if Britain is being "fobbed off" by these operations, Philp agreed: "We're definitely being fobbed off.

"I wrote to the chief executive of some of these companies after my visit to the asylum hotel, and I got the usual response with all the usual platitudes.

"And when they say they're taking proper action to stop this, they're basically lying. So these companies need to urgently put their house in order. They are fobbing us off."

Dame Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security and Asylum told GB News: "I welcome Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats' pledge to increase facial verification checks. Following today's roundtable, we will keep a close eye on that progress and continue discussions.

"Now, under our plan for change, we are taking a zero tolerance approach to illegal working across the board, and arrests nationwide have increased by 51 per cent, and we are strengthening legislation via our Borders Bill to end the abuse of flexible working arrangements."

A Deliveroo spokesman said: "We take a zero tolerance approach to anyone abusing our platform, and today’s meeting with industry partners and the Home Office represents progress in our collective efforts to combat illegal working.

"The industry leading measures Deliveroo put in place over the last year have had a positive impact, but criminals continue to seek new ways to abuse the system. Today, we have committed to further strengthening our approach, increasing daily facial recognition checks, and we welcome the industry’s commitment to do the same."

A spokesman for Just Eat said: "We are working closely with government and other delivery companies to tackle this complex challenge and have committed this week to further action to strengthen our systems. Just Eat shares the Government’s ambition to tackle illegal working and will continue to work closely with the Home Office to make progress on this important issue."

An Uber Eats spokesman said: "We are committed to tackling illegal working and welcome continued collaboration with industry and the Home Office, which is essential in raising standards and ensuring consistency. We will continue to invest in industry-leading tools to detect illegal work and remove fraudulent accounts."