A furious clash erupted on GB News as guests Alex Armstrong and Scarlett MccGwire locked horns over the soaring cost of housing migrants in the UK.The heated exchange followed revelations that taxpayers are now footing a bill of £4 million per day for asylum accommodation.READ THE FULL STORY HERE
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00:00Confusing, because it's saying, the Telegraph is saying the figure has tripled for hotels at £4 million,
00:08though in fact it's been reduced from £9 million a day down to £4 million,
00:12so it's been more than cut in half and it's somehow tripled.
00:15Right, so because this is, the problem here is that there's fluctuations in when migrants are coming,
00:21when we're housing them, where we're putting them, have they had their appeals done,
00:24have they had the rights to remain, not the rights to remain, have they been given settled status and all this stuff.
00:29See, there's a lot of things that change throughout this course of time.
00:32However, this is to do with contracts that were signed by the Conservative Party.
00:37So they signed deals with hotels and all these things at a cost of, what they would assume,
00:42£4.5 billion between 2019 and 2029.
00:46Now, because costs have gone up so dramatically, they're now expected those original costs of £4.5 billion will be at least £15.3 billion.
00:55Alright, so whose fault is that?
00:56Well, it's probably the fault of the Conservative Party for not getting on top of the crisis in the first place.
01:01I mean, you know, this is the reality, isn't it?
01:03We won't be dealing with this issue, we won't be talking about this had we not got on top of it for a long period of time.
01:08And of course, unfortunately, Keir Starmer is seemingly unwilling to do anything about it either.
01:13No, actually, that is not true, because what Labour always promised, I mean, there is a problem with the boats, right?
01:21But what they always promised, the bigger problem, is there was an amazing backlog.
01:27And what you have to do is you have to process it and you have to send the people who shouldn't be here back, right?
01:34And that's what's happening. And they are, I mean, we know that for the Tories...
01:39Yeah, but Scarlet, the people coming over on boats are not being sent back.
01:44They are.
01:44No, they're not.
01:45They are.
01:45By all accounts, they are not being sent back.
01:47There is no evidence to suggest anyone who's come over here on a small boat has been sent back.
01:51But deportations are...
01:52No, no, this is absolutely...
01:53Deportations are voluntary.
01:54No, deportations are not voluntary.
01:57Only 20% of people that shouldn't be here have been forced back of that number that the government has given.
02:02No, because, Alex, you assume...
02:04We have to be honest here.
02:05We can't just...
02:05I am being honest.
02:07I want to say two things.
02:08One is you assume that anybody coming here on a small boat is not a refugee.
02:15I do assume that, yes.
02:16Well, many of them are refugees, right?
02:19Many of them are refugees.
02:20You can make that argument.
02:21And they say, well, I mean, I think that, you know, I do talk about a young woman I had staying at my house who was a Christian in Eritrea.
02:28And, yes, her parents had been jailed for the last nine years and she came here.
02:32But more important is where does the money come from?
02:36And it comes...
02:37All of the hotel migrants is it comes from our international aid money.
02:42Well, I know that might be fair enough.
02:45And I don't want to get into a debate of whether people are refugees or we can have that sort of discussion.
02:49However, what I will say is that the problem we've got here, Scarlett, is that this is 15 billion.
02:55The government have just said they're not going to compensate victims of rape gangs.
02:59They have taken away the winter fuel allowance.
03:02I know where it's coming from, but it's still taxes, Scarlett.
03:05It's still taxes that could be discounting...
03:08Yes, international aid.
03:09Who pays international aid?
03:10It's our taxes.
03:11So there is a pot called international aid, right?
03:15Which is our money, right?
03:16Yes.
03:17But if it didn't go on asylum, it would go to Africa, right?
03:21But no, it shouldn't be.
03:23This would not...
03:23It shouldn't be.
03:24That's the point.
03:24It shouldn't be.
03:25When we...
03:25When we're just...
03:26I don't think you understand budgeting.
03:28I do understand budgeting.
03:29I'm saying the budget should go to British people first.
03:32OK.
03:32OK, but, Scott, OK.
03:33OK, how do you think...
03:34Will you ever let me finish a sentence?
03:36The point is that we put, what is it, 0.3% of GDP into international aid, right?
03:45It does not go to rape gangs.
03:47It goes to international aid.
03:48And part of that, a great deal of that money goes on asylum seekers and actually Ukrainian refugees.
03:57I know, but, Scarlett, you're missing my point.
03:59My point is, why are we spending it on those things when we're telling victims of...
04:04Of the biggest stain in our country, they can't have a penny in compensation.
04:07No, no.
04:07All right.
04:08Because...
04:08Alex, are you stupid?