Paying out millions of pounds a day to house illegal migrants in hotels is an "absolute disgrace", one of the Labour party's rising star MPs has told GB News.
Chris Curtis, elected MP for Milton Keynes North in July's general election, said that he found it "offensive" that public money was being used to keep illegal arrivals in hotels.
Earlier this week, it emerged that the Government was continuing to house asylum seekers in hotels despite Labour’s manifesto pledge to end the practice which costs £7million a day.
Curtis told Chopper’s political podcast this week regarding the previous administration that there was “a massive black hole that lurks in the economy” and he added that “the most offensive one is hotel bills”.
Chris Curtis appeared on Chopper's Political Podcast
GB News
He said: "We're taking hard earned taxpayers money out of their pockets. It's an absolute disgrace. We need to be shutting down those hotel bills. But you can't do that with a ridiculous Rwanda gimmick."
Curtis said that the last Conservative Government's plan - which was immediately axed by Labour on entering office - to deport illegally arrived migrants to Rwanda was "a fantasy".
He said: "There was never going to work. Nobody thought it was going to work. It was a complete joke."
The Daily Telegraph reported this week asylum seekers were seen moving into two hotels, in Berkshire and Greater Manchester, after the Home Office received “ministerial approval” to use them.
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Curtis said that the last Conservative Government's plan to deport illegally arrived migrants to Rwanda was "a fantasy"
GB News
Asylum seekers have been seen moving into two hotels, in Berkshire and Greater Manchester, after the Home Office received “ministerial approval” to use them.
Last year, Labour pledged to end the use of hotels, barges and military sites as accommodation for asylum seekers, saying they would not be needed because a Labour government would clear the backlog of asylum cases.
The Home Office said that it was "absolutely committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers and continue to identify a range of accommodation options to minimise their use".
Curtis is vice chairman of the new Labour Growth Group, a grouping of 54 Labour MPs set up to call on the Prime Minister to “unlock Britain’s untapped potential” and spur economic growth by reforming planning policy and build 1.5 million new homes across the country.
Curtis told the podcast that the group was formed "because we know that growing the economy, putting more money into people's pay packets, ensuring people have that economic security in order to thrive and reach their potential in life is so important".
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