Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick found himself on the end of a grilling on Decision Time: The Race to Lead over his record on immigration.
Jenrick, previously immigration minister, was pledging to drastically slash migration if he were to become prime minister.
He told the audience on GB News that he hopes to reduce it to fewer than 10,000 people a year, but he was quickly grilled by Political Editor Christopher Hope.
“I don’t want our party to keep making and breaking promises”, Jenrick said.
Jenrick said the government's record on immigration was a 'disgrace'
GB NEWS
“Frankly, there is no future for our party unless we fix this issue and get back the Reform voters we lost.
“That’s why you’ve got to end the drama, got to end the excuses and actually deliver on immigration.”
Chopper waded in: “On your watch, £8million a day on hotels for migrants arriving here illegally.
“That’s outrageous, right?”
Defending his record, Jenrick insisted he made a start on stopping migrants being housed in hotels, but he was scuppered by the upper echelons of Government.
“It’s a disgrace Chris”, he said.
“I felt as angry as anyone else on that. I know those communities, they are in the place I represent and where I grew up.
“We have got to change it, that’s why I started to close the hotels. You saw what Labour did today, they said they’re going to procure more of the hotels.
Robert Jenrick spoke on GB News
GB NEWS
“Instead of strengthening the Rwanda scheme like I wanted, they scrapped it altogether and have left us completely at the mercy of the people smuggling gangs.
“The only barrier for people coming into our country is the weather in the English Channel, that is wrong.
“We have to have a clear policy, hold Labour to account and regain the public’s trust.”
Jenrick has made it clear how important the issue of immigration is to him in his bid to woo Tory members.
The point was further stressed during his opening remarks, saying: "Immigration is not just another issue amongst many. It is the issue which explains why our party is where it is right now.
"It’s the reason that we lost four million of our people to Reform at the general election and millions more who decided to stay at home.
"You know who those people are whose trust we lost. And we’ve got to get them back. If we don’t get them back home to our party, we’ll never be in Government again.”