Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has sparked a fresh row on Britain's illegal migration after extending the country's migrant hotels deal by another four years.
Despite a previous pledge to end the scheme "as soon as possible", Home Office top civil servant Sir Matthew Rycroft has said that the Government aim to "exit asylum hotels" by 2029.
Rycroft claimed that it is a "statutory obligation to provide that accommodation", and that "sometimes hotels are the only possible way of doing that".
Discussing the extension on GB News, Founding Chairman of Global Britain UK Aman Bhogal expressed his outrage at the decision, claiming that the Government is "beyond a soft touch" to illegal migration.
Bhogal fumed: "We are beyond a soft touch. We're an active magnet for every criminal around the world who wants to come to the UK.
"As the White House press secretary said, anyone who breaks into our borders is immediately a criminal. That's what they're doing, they're breaking into our borders - these are illegal migrants."
Defending Channel crossings, commentator Nigel Nelson hit back at Bhogal: "It's not illegal to cross the Channel in a small boat.
"If they claim asylum, they haven't crossed illegally. If they become an illegal migrant after that, that is the point where it is illegal."
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Infuriated by Nelson's argument, Bhogal told GB News: "This is the exact type of nonsense that has got us into this mess in the first place.
"This is not about international law, this is about the British national interest. Keir Starmer promised us that he'd be smashing the gangs - it's the gang smashing Starmer, that's what's happening. 25,000 migrants since he became Prime Minister, and that's during a cold weather spell."
Hitting out at Labour's decision to extend the migrant hotels agreement, Bhogal stated: "This contract being extended, it's not just until the end of this Parliament - there's a clause in it to extend it further to 2036. This is £4million a day that should be being spent on giving money to pensioners or nurses.
"This is, again, more skullduggery by Starmer and his Government. He's also increasing the legal aid that is going to be given to these asylum seekers, up by 30 per cent to a whopping £61million, so that on the one hand, he can say I'm trying to stop them getting citizenship, and then on the other hand is giving those dinghy-chasing lawyers money to fight His Majesty's Government."
Offering his defence of the decision, Nelson concluded: "It wasn't a manifesto commitment. They did originally say that they thought they'd be able to close them in a year, and they can't.
"But they have gone down, there used to be around 400 migrant hotels - were now down to 220. So we're nearly halfway there."
He added: "They still have to clear an awful lot of backlog away, and people are still coming."
A Home Office spokesman said in December: "We have inherited enormous pressures in the asylum system and remain absolutely committed to ending the use of hotels to ensure value for money.
"We have identified a range of sites that we are narrowing down to a handful of suitable properties that will enable us to exit hotels sooner."
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Despite a previous pledge to end the scheme "as soon as possible", Home Office top civil servant Sir Matthew Rycroft has said that the Government aim to "exit asylum hotels" by 2029.
Rycroft claimed that it is a "statutory obligation to provide that accommodation", and that "sometimes hotels are the only possible way of doing that".
Discussing the extension on GB News, Founding Chairman of Global Britain UK Aman Bhogal expressed his outrage at the decision, claiming that the Government is "beyond a soft touch" to illegal migration.
Bhogal fumed: "We are beyond a soft touch. We're an active magnet for every criminal around the world who wants to come to the UK.
"As the White House press secretary said, anyone who breaks into our borders is immediately a criminal. That's what they're doing, they're breaking into our borders - these are illegal migrants."
Defending Channel crossings, commentator Nigel Nelson hit back at Bhogal: "It's not illegal to cross the Channel in a small boat.
"If they claim asylum, they haven't crossed illegally. If they become an illegal migrant after that, that is the point where it is illegal."
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Infuriated by Nelson's argument, Bhogal told GB News: "This is the exact type of nonsense that has got us into this mess in the first place.
"This is not about international law, this is about the British national interest. Keir Starmer promised us that he'd be smashing the gangs - it's the gang smashing Starmer, that's what's happening. 25,000 migrants since he became Prime Minister, and that's during a cold weather spell."
Hitting out at Labour's decision to extend the migrant hotels agreement, Bhogal stated: "This contract being extended, it's not just until the end of this Parliament - there's a clause in it to extend it further to 2036. This is £4million a day that should be being spent on giving money to pensioners or nurses.
"This is, again, more skullduggery by Starmer and his Government. He's also increasing the legal aid that is going to be given to these asylum seekers, up by 30 per cent to a whopping £61million, so that on the one hand, he can say I'm trying to stop them getting citizenship, and then on the other hand is giving those dinghy-chasing lawyers money to fight His Majesty's Government."
Offering his defence of the decision, Nelson concluded: "It wasn't a manifesto commitment. They did originally say that they thought they'd be able to close them in a year, and they can't.
"But they have gone down, there used to be around 400 migrant hotels - were now down to 220. So we're nearly halfway there."
He added: "They still have to clear an awful lot of backlog away, and people are still coming."
A Home Office spokesman said in December: "We have inherited enormous pressures in the asylum system and remain absolutely committed to ending the use of hotels to ensure value for money.
"We have identified a range of sites that we are narrowing down to a handful of suitable properties that will enable us to exit hotels sooner."
Find Out More...