GMB Labour grilling sparks fury as outraged fans brand segment a 'farce'

Good Morning Britain viewers were left up in arms after the news that 19 councils are believed to be considering legal challenges against the government in a bid to stop hotels being used to house asylum seekers. On Tuesday (August 19), a council was granted a temporary High Court injunction blocking asylum seekers from being housed in an Essex hotel. The injunction was sought by Epping Forest District Council to stop migrants being placed at The Bell Hotel in Epping, which is owned by Somani Hotels Limited.

In recent weeks, thousands of people have protested near the hotel after an asylum seeker living there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in the town. After sharing the distressing news, ITV hosts Adil Ray and Charlotte Hawkins welcomed Labour minister Catherine McKinnell onto the show to get a better understanding of the government's plans to tackle the issue.

Adil began: "Where else are you going to put these asylum seekers? What is the plan?" to which the Minister of School Standards declined to answer the questions, instead sharing the difficult system they inherited from the previous government.

She replied: "We inherited a huge mess in terms of our immigration system from the previous government. At it's peak in 2023, they had 400 asylum hotels - it's now down to 210. We've committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers but we've said it will take until the end of this parliament to achieve that.

"There are many ways that we are tackling this, one of which though is to tackle the backlog of claims because many of these people are just waiting in these hotels for their asylum cases to be processed.

"So we are doubling the number of claims that are being processed, we're deporting people who shouldn't be here." It was at this point that Adil interrupted as he pushed the original question about plans to move the residents in The Bell Hotel in Epping.

He urged: "Let's look at those living in The Bell Hotel. We know they've got to move out in the next few weeks. That is a decision made by the High Court. Where are you going to put those initially? Are they just going to be put into another hotel? another town?"

Ms McKinnell replied: "You ask a legitimate question and these are legitimate concerns that local communities have had and we take it very seriously as a government, but I can't speculate on what the Home Office is doing."

Adil fumed: "You don't know, do you? You don't know, and there doesn't seem to be a plan." It didn't take long before viewers flooded to X - formerly known as Twitter - to share their frustrations online.

One user penned: "Another MP who thinks the public are stupid! She thinks by responding to Adil & Charlotte's question 'That is such an important question' but then doesn't answer it will make people feel better. It was a pathetic interview, we need better quality MPs in all parties, it's insulting!!"

Meanwhile, others slammed the broadcaster for grilling the politician who doesn't specialise in immigration. One user argued: "@GMB getting mad at the Minister of School Standards for not knowing what the Home Office is going to do? She was there to celebrate GCSE results. What a farce of an interview."

Another agreed: "A dreadful interview two presenters being rude and unprofessional, bullying someone on something that isn't their job, it's just opportunistic bullying."

A third fumed: "No wonder education is suffering again, it plays second fiddle to your immigration agenda. You get someone from education on and all you are really bothered about is immigration. This is why it's all being blown out of proportion and made worse because it's what you want."