Suella Braverman blasted for ‘sticking plaster’ solution to migration: ‘Who’s going to pick up the tab?!’

Speaking to GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope, Braverman outlined her idea to increase revenue "up to £8billion" by introducing the higher rates for businesses.

She added that as a result, the plan will "reduce net migration" to the UK.

Braverman told GB News: "I'm very interested in something I did as Home Secretary in raising taxes and charges on businesses that employ foreign workers.

"It will also have a benefit of lowering net migration, and we know the British People have voted time and time again to lower overall numbers, and we have unprecedented numbers of foreign workers coming in."

Reacting to the proposal, political commentator and former Labour aide Stella Tsantekidou hit out at Braverman and accused her of "already making it expensive" to be an immigrant in the UK.

Tsantekidou shut down the idea of the plan helping to reduce net migration by making things "even more expensive" for foreign workers.

Tsantekidou told GB News host Martin Daubney: "The people you have here already, a lot of them, they are the teachers that are going to be teaching at your schools, who you need and you don't have enough of."

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Tsantekidou continued: "They are the nurses and the social care workers that you need for your NHS. They are the construction workers who you need to tackle your housing crisis.

"So it's all well and good what she's saying about making it so expensive for immigration, but who do you think is going to pick up the tab in the end?"

Christopher Hope argued in defence of Braverman and said she is "trying to tackle the idea that the companies rely on foreign labour as a way to avoid hiring more expensive UK labour."

Tsantekidou hit back, arguing that the Conservative government have "promised for years" to bring down rising levels of mass migration.

Tsantekidou fumed: "They should be honest from the get go and say look, there are some jobs that we haven't managed to convince British people to take up. Very often it is because these jobs don't really pay very well and we have limited the quality of these jobs.

"So this could be the honest thing to do as a politician, to go out and say this is the root of the cause, rather than this is just a plaster I'm going to stick on and I'm going to say whatever I want."

Commenting on Suella's stance on the government's efforts to stop the boats, Tsantekidou accused the former Home Secretary of being "tame", suggesting she is hoping to become Tory leader in the future.

She added: "For the majority of people who look at it objectively, they would also say this also sounds like a big waste of money. You are spending over half a billion pounds on something that so far has not had any results, and something that's only going to impact less than 1 per cent of asylum seekers.

"Surely the public will think there are better things to spend our money on?"