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WATCH: Eamonn Holmes hits out at Labour 'nonsense' over asylum hotel cost
Oct 27, 2025
Eamonn Holmes has hit out at "billions of pounds" being "wasted" on migrant hotels, admitting he is "depressed" at the current state of play in Britain.Discussing a new report on the Home Office's handling of the migrant crisis, the GB News host said he "despairs" at how Britain is "going down the tubes".FULL STORY HERE.
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about billions of pounds of taxpayer money that has been squandered on asylum hotels
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because of what has been described as a failed, Catholic and expensive system
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Now joining us in the studio, James Rampton. I always like to hear James' view on things like this
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James, you just, you couldn't make this up. You know, honestly, just when you think
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I honestly despair at the way this country is run and we're going down the tubes
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That makes me more depressed than the clock situation has to say
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So billions of pounds wasted on hotels for migrants, for instance. Yeah
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Get it off your chest. Well, absolutely. I share your incandescent rage about it
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It's just extraordinary. Over the past ten years, the costs have gone up from £4.5 billion to £15.3 billion
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I remember about two decades... Not a word about it. No. Not a word. Nobody's warning us this has happened or whatever
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It's a stealth disaster. Well, until today, when it's on the front page of the Mail
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But John Reid, I remember when he was one of Tony Blair's many Home Secretaries
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when he became Home Secretary, he said the Home Office wasn't fit for purpose
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And it seems two decades later, nothing has changed. This new report from MPs says it's not up to the challenge
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I was struck last week, people talking about the destruction of the East Wing by President Trump
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seemed emblematic of his wrecking ball presidency. But the government's failures on immigration are similarly symbolic of the disastrous time that they're having
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You know, we may talk about Kabato who bizarrely and totally inexplicably was waved goodbye on Friday by HMP Chelmsford
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But these sort of calamities keep afflicting the government. And you think, you know, what else can happen
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Well, I'll tell you what else can happen. So your man gets released, whatever, out of prison
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and Lammy acts all tough and we're going to have an investigation, an inquiry, where he won't have an inquiry about other things
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but he'll have an inquiry at the drop of a hat on this. And then the prisons go, oh, no, nothing to do with us
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We don't want to be looked into and examined, because this could cost us 45 minutes more processing a prisoner out of jail I mean how blimmin really I understand what the prisons are really saying is we don have any money what are you making us do more work for
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But that is their job. That is their job, to make sure that people are incarcerated
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and not allowed to be freed unnecessarily. And that the rest of us feel safe
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Bizarrely, the man was apprehended about half a mile from where I live yesterday
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Not that I felt threatened by him, but we knew he was in the area
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And that does make you slightly uneasy. And apparently he went back to the prison to say, what should I do
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There were reports he went back five times to the death. He was wandering around for an hour and a half and they said, oh, the train station's over there
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It's completely bizarre. If they have one job, the prison officers, it's to keep us safe
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And they manifestly failed on that. And to watch the statement from the victim's father was heartbreaking
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He said he only found out that he had disappeared after reporters knocked on his door
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He went down to HMP Chelmsford and he said he got a very frosty response
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It's absolutely outrageous. Can we come back to the Home Office story
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And this £46 million that the Home Office is owed but hasn't attempted to recoup, we understand
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This is from two contracts. So it does lead to the question, doesn't it
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Well, where else is our taxpayer money being wasted? Where else is money being squandered
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Because this is just two contracts. Yeah, it's true. It does make you wonder. There's a lot of media focus on the moment at the government's attempt
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to recoup the money from the company that Michelle Moan was associated with
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and that's very headline-grabbing, and lots of people will say that's a very good thing
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But you're right. All these things are going under the radar. the amount of wastage that happens in government would make..
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If I had any hair, it would all fall out. You see, this is why I can't stand listening to people like Rachel Reeves
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about saying the expenditure and our commitments to this and we need to keep the spending up and whatever
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I say I could walk into the Treasury Department now immediately and say, give me those first ten files
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No, no, yes, forget it, forget it. Absolutely. Are you trying to tell me you couldn save money in the government Well I would love to see you as Chancellor Eamon for a start You would be superb But you right There an awful lot that seems to just disappear a bit like
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you know, we've been hearing 60% of water disappears through leakage from the Victorian
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pipes. The system of government is faulty and enables a massive squandering of our money
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That's what's really enraging, is it's our money that seems to be so carelessly handled. They're
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not looking after it. And this hotel story exemplifies that. Yeah. We had this report last week, didn't we, into the Home Office saying that it was dysfunctional
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and detached from its core functions. And the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, was saying
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look, it's not yet fit for purpose, but I can fix it. Do you think that this is potentially beyond
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repair? Well, possibly. I mean, they say it's the worst job in government in the Home Office
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because whatever you do, you get grief from either side. And I think she is making a difference
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She's certainly tough on immigration. She's making all the right noises on that
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Is it just hot air, though? Well, it's early days. She's only been Home Secretary for a few weeks
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But Labour is hemorrhaging votes to reform at the moment, according to the polls
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They have to do something about it or they're going to be wiped out. All those red-walled seats will fall to reform
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and the 180-seat majority that Starmer enjoyed just a year ago, think, just over a year ago, will be wiped out
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So they've got to do something about it. And he'll be wiped out with it
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He will. I think the longer things go on, the more inept he is seen to be
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He is a people pleaser. He travels around the world kissing everybody's backside
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but not leading anything. It's very funny. He is much more highly regarded abroad
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You know, people say, oh, look what he's doing with Zelensky and how brilliantly he's finessed it with Trump
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and how wonderful he is with the EU. all of which may be true, but to most voters that's a secondary issue
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Of course we care about the war in Ukraine. It's massively important for the future of Europe
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But people care more, and I may sound being cruel here, but the fact is people care more about the migrant boats than anything else
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And they also care about what Harold Wilson used to call the pound in their pocket. Of course
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You know, the cost of living. Things that affect their lives on a daily basis And people who are having to go to food banks from previously middle class existences people who are struggling to pay the rent that whole terrible phrase heat or eat
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You know, you either heat your flat or you buy food. Those are absolutely unthinkable choices
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My question is, how do people, how will people afford Christmas this year
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I mean, it's a serious question. I don't know. I mean, it's traditionally the best time of the year for the family
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Families always make an effort to splash out, but then get into debt for the next few months
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because they're so keen for their children to have the most memorable time
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But I agree, Eamon, that is a looming crisis and it will really sharpen people's minds
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about the way that Labour is failing on the economy. OK. And the budget's, what, a month away
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Yeah. 26th and event low. Good luck with that. Good luck with you. Stay on with us
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We're going to try and get some feedback as to what James is saying, if you agree, disagree
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Have your say, right? It's all about having your say, and we will reflect that if you get in touch with us
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Well, the Home Office has given us this statement, saying the government is furious about the number of illegal migrants in this country and in hotels
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That is why we will close every single asylum hotel, saving the taxpayer billions of pounds
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We have already taken action closing hotels, slashing asylum costs by nearly a billion pounds, and exploring the use of a military basis and disused properties
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So who's going to have their local military base transformed? I mean, this is all nonsense
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All these statements, they mean absolutely nothing. Who would be happy to see that? Because, again, James, forgive me for bringing you back in here
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I'm quite happy. But, you know, if someone, if there's an old RAF base beside you or whatever
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and someone says, right, we're going to move 2,000 migrants into that
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does the local community accept that? I don't think so. Yes, I mean, we look at what's happened in Epping
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You know, and all over the country, actually, there have been protests about that
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So that's a really delicate diplomatic issue for the government to try and convince people that it's in the national interest to allow people into the country and to stay on these disused bases
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But you're right. A huge kind of people pleasing exercise will have to take place in order to convince people that it's OK
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