Several Good Morning Britain viewers were left unimpressed with Monday’s interview with Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp as the Conservative MP was grilled about the ongoing debate surrounding migrant hotels.
With the hotels still making the news following scenes of police allegedly pepper-spraying protestors over the weekend in London, combined with continued unrest in Epping, Susanna Reid and Ed Balls were keen to hear from Mr Philp about what the Tories felt should be done.
However, the line of questioning from Ms Reid, as well as the fact that Mr Balls is married to the current Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, sparked a rather dismayed response from viewers at home.
“It’s pretty extraordinary to focus on nine months when you were in government for 14 years and we had record levels of immigration on your watch,” Ms Reid quizzed during the discussion with Mr Philp.
She went on: “In the year that you told councils that they no longer had to consult on hotel accommodation, the number of hotels increased.
“If we look at the end of March 2020, which is when you told councils they no longer needed to consult, there were around 1,200 people accommodated in hotels. That number increased to around 4,400 by that June, 8,000 towards the end of August, and approximately 9,500 in October.
“So literally, in one year, you had this massive rise in asylum seekers in hotels. And now you’re blaming the government for not dealing with it.”
Mr Philp defended the Conservatives’ time in government: “Well, of course, the period you’re quoting, starting in March 2020, is, of course, during Covid, when international travel and the ability to return people was obviously hugely impaired by the Covid pandemic.
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“As I said earlier, the Conservatives in government closed 200 hotels in their last nine months, and had that trend continued after the election, by now there would be no hotels at all -“
Ms Reid interrupted: “Okay, so if we take a year that wasn’t in Covid, the number of asylum seekers accommodated in hotels continued to remain high and peaked in June 2023.
“I mean, my point is, you can blame this government all you like for not handling this issue, but the issue became out of control under the Conservative government.”
Mr Philp stood firm: “Well, I’ve already said that the numbers came down by 200. In 2023, by the way, the full year, the number crossing the channel illegally actually went down by about 30 percent.
“And we had a plan to stop it completely, which is to remove everybody who crossed the channel illegally, either to their country of origin, or to a safe third country, could be Rwanda, could be somewhere else.
“But the new Labour government, Keir Starmer, cancelled that just before it was due to start, with no replacement. And as a consequence, the numbers have surged since the election.
“This year, the numbers are 40 percent, 40 percent higher than last year. And this year is going to be the worst ever because the Labour government cancelled that deterrent before it started with no replacement.”
Taking aim at Labour, Mr Philp continued: “We’ve had a string of gimmicks. We’re going to smash the gangs, they said. Then they said, oh, the French are going to intervene in the sea near the shores. Well, that hasn’t happened.
“Then they said they’re going to send 50 people a week back to France, which obviously will make no difference because that’s only six percent of those crossing, 94 percent would get to stay. That hasn’t started either.
“Now they’re saying they’re going to tweak the family rules. It is gimmick after gimmick after gimmick. It’s not working. This is the worst year ever. And the government just doesn’t accept this is a full-blown crisis, which requires a crisis response.”
The conversation soon moved on, but the subject of the Conservatives’ performance remained under scrutiny throughout.
Taking to X, the manner of questioning towards Mr Philp didn’t sit particularly well with some at home, especially as Mr Balls was also participating in the interview.
“Was Susanna’s questioning based on sitting next to the Home Secretary’s husband. Susanna has been away so long she probably doesn’t realise the public feeling on this subject,” one X user hit out.
A second similarly questioned: “How can we trust your impartiality when you have the Home Secretary’s husband sitting there. Absolutely scandalous.”
“Come on, Susanna, we all know the Tories were bad, but Labour blocked all attempts by them to resolve the situation and are now reaping what they sowed,” a third complained.
Meanwhile, a fourth blasted the line of questioning: “They just can’t do it! They can’t do an interview without saying ‘inherited’. I honestly think they would combust if they couldn’t say that word #GMB.”
@susannareid100 would back Ed Balls up and Ed Balls would always back @YvetteCooperMP up as it’s his wife I’m going to stop watching @GMB i think!
— L J 💙🌈 ! 💜💚🧡 🧑🏽🦽 (@LJE42) September 1, 2025
And a fifth threatened action: “@GMB @Ofcom it appears that GMB is now the official propaganda arm of the Labour Party. Attacking the shadow Home Sec sat on the news desk with the incumbent Home Secs husband masquerading as a presenter/journo. Talk about balance?”
A sixth echoed: “OFCOM where are you? How can you have a fair interview about asylum seekers with the Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp when your wife is the Home Secretary? It’s not right, Ed Balls needs to go. @GMB #GMB.”
However, others jumped to the GMB hosts’ defence, with one replying to a clip of the Mr Philp interview by simply arguing: “She’s right.”
And a second was more perturbed by Mr Philp’s conduct: “Get Philp off… Labour are obviously doing a bad job, but his gov were no better #gmb #bbcbreakfast.” (sic)