This could be quite the political own goal from Robert Jenrick. The shadow cabinet minister attended a migrant hotel protest in Epping over the weekend, following his appearance up with a Telegraph column railing against the policy. However, his words have somewhat come back to haunt him.
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Robert Jenrick stance on migrant hotels ripped apart
After posing for photos with demonstrators, Jenrick went on to claim that the number of asylum seekers being hosted in hotels has led the British public to breaking point, arguing that patience has ‘snapped’ across the country. A fair point, maybe. But he seems to be forgetting something.
As per statistics from the Home Office, the use of these asylum hotels peaked in September 2023, with 56,000 migrants being housed during that particular month. It just so happens that the Immigration Minister at the time was none other than… Mr Jenrick.
Watch: Robert Jenrick tells Sky News he ‘procured more hotels’ in 2022
The backlash has only intensified against Robert Jenrick on Monday, after footage of him speaking to Sky News in November 2022 came back to bite him on the backside. He was quoted as saying that he personally ‘procured even more migrant hotels’ than his colleagues had previously…
Farage, Labour lash out at ‘fraudulent, dishonest’ MP
What the senior Tory saw as an appropriate boast just a few years ago has now been used as a stick to beat him with. Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party, ripped into Jenrick earlier today, claiming that the now-infamous interview with Sky News ‘proves he is a fraud’.
Several Labour figures have also stuck the boot into the Newark MP. Chris Weaver, who serves as a councillor in Cardiff, hammered Jenrick for ‘overseeing a system which failed to process claims’, saying that this incident now makes him ‘unfit to serve his constituents’.
“Robert Jenrick was a Tory minister who literally oversaw the system of failing to process claims, and boasted of booking ‘even more’ hotels for migrants. To do what he’s doing now makes him unfit to be an MP. Total dishonesty. Labour are clearing up this Tory mess. It’s vile.” | Chris Weaver
Andrea Eagle, a long-serving MP for the governing party, also had her say. She accused the right-leaning politician of taking asylum hotel usage to ‘its absolute peak’, stating that he holds some direct responsibility for racking up a bill of almost ‘£9 million a day’. Ouch…
“Under Robert Jenrick’s watch, the number of people in asylum hotels rose 50% in the space of a year – from 37,000 to 56,000. He took hotel use to its absolute peak, with 400 in use at a cost of almost £9m a day – I think he’s protesting so loudly to hide these facts.” | Angela Eagle