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WATCH: Labour minister denies that illegal migrants will be housed in the 1.5 million new build homes
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Jun 18, 2025
Labour's Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook faced an intense grilling by GB News host Ben Leo after admitting illegal migrants and asylum seekers could be moved to "private sector accommodation" instead of hotels.Speaking to the People's Channel, Pennycook said that the Government needs to "build more homes" in order to tackle the "chaos" of the migrant crisis in Britain.FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
Now let's speak to the government, shall we
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The Minister of Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook, who joins us now. Good to see you this morning, Mr Pennycook
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And you're here today to talk about half a million new homes
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This is your announcement today. But you've also promised to end the use of migrant hotels by 2029
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So it does beg the question, who are these houses for? Where are these migrants that you're moving out of hotels going to be housed
0:26
Well, we do need to take forward new sites and accommodation to get people out of hotels
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I think your viewers will understand why that needs to happen. Hotel accommodation is incredibly expensive, and we do need to move people out there as those cases are worked through
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And we are bringing down the caseload in the system. But when it comes to housing more generally, this is particularly why we've got such an ambitious 1.5 million new homes target as part of our plan for change
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because we've got to build, irrespective of levels of immigration, as you know, we've inherited an immigration asylum system in complete chaos
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and we've got to restore order to it. But we've got to build more homes of all 10 years
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because for too many decades there's been a huge mismatch between supply and demand when it comes to homes to rent and homes to buy
1:15
Sorry, Minister, forgive me. I don't think you quite answered the question there. Will these new homes go to illegal migrants
1:22
No. The Home Office and through contractors like Serco, for example, will take out contracts
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So that will, in some instances, involve private rented sector accommodation. We're going to do that in a slightly different way with local authorities looking at those locally led solutions
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But we do need to move people out of asylum hotels because they are incredibly expensive
1:46
Right So that a yes because there was a Treasury document a few weeks ago doing the rounds from the Office for Value for Money and it was fairly explicit in there when it said that the asylum hotels would be alleviated and indeed ended by 2029 by literally moving them into the 1 million new homes your government wants
2:03
to build. So that's correct, is it? No, I don't think. I mean, let's look at..
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That's what it says in the Treasury document, Minister. Do you think new homes to buy that are freshly built are going to go to asylum seekers? No
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Sorry to interject again. That's what it says on the Treasury website, sir
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No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. It does. There's a document called the Office for Value for Money
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There's a document, Minister. Sorry to interrupt. Let's just get this clear. There's a Treasury document from the Office for Value for Money
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I've read the document, Ben. Thank you. Right. And it says the pressure on asylum hotels will be alleviated through the 1.5 million new homes the government wants to build
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So is that document wrong? Well, as I said, we've got to build more homes of all tenures to ensure that we've got supply coming through
2:56
That would be the case, whatever the state of the asylum system. I've been very clear, I think, in terms of the need to move people out of asylum hotels, which are expensive
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in some instances that will mean, for example, that people are going into the private rented sector
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I don't think they're going into new build homes for market sale, which is the point I was trying to make in terms of some of the homes coming forward
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but they will go, for example, into the private rented sector in some instances. But that is why we've got to grow the supply of homes of all tenures
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homes to buy, homes to rent, affordable social homes, and there was that £39 billion worth of investment in social and affordable housing
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at the Spending Review announced, which is going to make a real difference. Let's stay with the topic of migration, shall we
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It would be great to talk about the National Housing Bank. We will ask you about that Let just stay on migration because we are on that topic 17 arrivals so far this year This is the government that promised to smash the gangs It actually looking like it set to be a record year
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Well, as you know, and I've been on your programme many times and made this point
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we inherited an immigration and asylum system in complete chaos. We do need to restore order to it
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That was never going to be an overnight fix, not least because the criminal gangs that are profiteering from human misery are very well entrenched
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But you know the steps we're taking. I've spoken on this program many times before. Our borders bill, which is going through the House of Commons right now, will ensure that police and law enforcement agencies have those counterterrorism style powers
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We're making other changes. We've already deported 30,000 people that have got no right to be here
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4,500 foreign national offenders. That's a 14% increase. So we are turning things around, but it was never going to be an overnight fix
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Minister, reports in The Times this morning suggest Shabana Mahmood is on the continent talking about the ECHR
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Is that something Labour, this government, is open to, reforming the ECHR to really get a grip of the illegal boat crisis
4:57
Well, we are always in a position where we're keeping the Human Rights Act under review
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We've been very clear already, and it was in the immigration white paper we published
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in the recent period, that we are reviewing Article 8 and how that is applied
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The Home Secretary has also made clear that she is reviewing Article 3 of the ECHR and
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how that applies in particular in foreign extradition cases where the state of a prison overseas
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is cited as the reason. She is reviewing that. Okay. Let's talk about what you're here to
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talk to us about today which is the new National Housing Bank Brilliant It would be great to have a chance to mention that Alongside billion of new capital funding for housing we announcing today our intention to establish a new national housing bank
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to accelerate house building across the country, not least for the reasons we've just spoken about
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This will be a new government-owned public finance institution that will have the autonomy and flexibility to be able to deploy loans
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equity and guarantees to get projects moving. That's £16 billion worth of new funding
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And because of the way it's constituted and how it will operate, similarly to the National Wealth Fund
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it will make a return for government over the lifetime. And it's an important way we'll contribute to house building over the long run
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We think that the funding through that £16 billion will enable up to 500,000 homes over the lifetime of the Parliament
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but also to that £1.5 million new homes target. We think it will estimate that it will contribute
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just under 60,000 homes in this Parliament to that £1.5 million target
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Yes, and indeed, £53 billion worth of private investment as well, Minister towards that. Can you tell me please how many new homes the government has built
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since taking power? Well, we have got figures only for the last year of full figures I have got, for example
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2023-24 indicates that just under 221,000 homes have been built. I expect the 24-25
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figures when they are released to show rates that are similarly not where we need them
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to be. But that is because we have inherited from the previous government a series of anti-supply
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changes and they will take time to work through in terms of the statistics. So we are turning
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things around. I fully expect in terms of, for example, planning applications coming forward to see a very sharp uptick in later months of this year and going into next year
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So the reforms will take time to feed through into the statistics. But we are turning the
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situation around. We are going to meet that 1.5 million plan for change new homes target
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OK, Matthew Pennycook, we're out of time with you, I'm afraid, but thank you very much for chatting with us this morning
7:33
Thank you, Minister. My pleasure. Thank you
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