Chris Philp had an uncomfortable time on BBC Breakfast as the Tories hypocrisy on hotels housing asylum seekers was put to him.
This week has been dominated by discussions of protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, with a particular focus on Epping, where the council have won a High Court bid to block asylum seekers being housed at the Bell Hotel.
The council successfully argued the company who own the hotel had breached planning rules, by not using the site for its intended purpose as a hotel.
Following the High Court ruling, several other councils are set to try and follow suit with similar legal challenges. However, this is likely to cause problems for the Home Office who will have to find alternative accommodation for the asylum seekers.
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The Tories have used the saga to take aim at Labour, with Kemi Badenoch urging Conservative-controlled councils to consider similar legal challenges to the one in Epping.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has echoed these calls, but many have highlighted how it was actually under Rishi Sunak’s government in 2023 that the use of hotels to house asylum seekers hit its peak at more than 400 hotels.
So during an appearance on BBC Breakfast this morning (21 August), presenter Charlie Stayt had one question for Philp: was he urging councils to do the same thing when the Tories were in power?
As Philp tried to argue it his party had actually helped cut the number of hotels used, Stayt tried to get an answer out of him to the initial question – predictably, to little avail.
Stayt said: “Just to be clear on this, when the Conservatives were in power, I think the peak number of asylum seekers in hotels was over 50,000.
“I’m just curious as to why then Conservative councils weren’t seeking to take legal action against the government, but you are now.”
Philp responded: “The reason is that after that peak was hit, the Conservative government nationally took action which halved that number. It went from 56,000 down to 29,000 at the time of the election. It went from 400 down to about 200 hotels.”
You can watch the exchange below.