Tory Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately has been grilled on how the public can trust the Conservatives as the party pledged to end social housing for foreign nationals.
GB News host Ellie Costello asked: “Do you honestly think that people are going to trust you to tackle this issue?”
Yesterday, Kemi Badenoch announced that she would move nearly 230,000 non-EU foreign national households out of council homes to open them up for British families.
She said that migrants from any country, including EU member states, would also be barred from taking on new social housing tenancies if the Tories win the next General Election.
“We know that British people feel that they are being taken for a ride,” Ms Whately began.
“Billions of pounds of British taxpayers' money is being spent on welfare for foreign nationals, and that includes social housing.
“At the moment, you've got over a million households on the waiting list for social housing, often waiting years and years, while we’ve got nearly a quarter of a million households led by foreign nationals living in social housing.
“So we're saying we will end that and free up those 230,000 households for British families on the waiting list to move into. And this will save up to £4 billion for the taxpayer as well,” she declared.
“Foreign nationals, if they're choosing to live in the UK, should be contributing to the UK economy,” the top Tory continued.
“They shouldn't be claiming benefits, and they shouldn't be living in social housing, which is limited.
"There's a limited supply of social housing, and that should be there, like the welfare system as a safety net for British citizens.
“If you’re a foreign national living in social housing, you should do what, let’s be clear, the majority of the population of the UK do, which is find your own accommodation and pay your own way.”
Ellie said the pledge was certainly an “eye-catching” one but questioned: “Do you think, honestly, that people are going to trust you to tackle this issue and to take it seriously?
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
- Kemi Badenoch to ban all migrants from council houses and end 'cash machine UK'
- Nigel Farage brands Kemi Badenoch a 'fraud' as row over migrant social housing ban erupts
- Reform UK meets Trump administration in preparation for 'sooner than expected' General Election
“When we listen to our viewers, when they think of the Tories, they think of the opening up of migrant hotels, they think about the Boriswave, they think about all of those broken promises.
“The trust is broken, and you can see that in the polls,” she insisted, adding: “The Tories are still lagging in the polls. There is this trust issue that remains.
“How are you going to get that trust back with the British people, especially when it comes to this issue?”
“Kemi Badenoch herself has been upfront about the mistakes made by previous conservative leaders,” Ms Whately responded.
“We are really thinking through these policies,” the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary insisted.
“We know that the British public knows that things need to change, and they want to know that we're putting them first.”
Ms Whatley stressed she had been “very clear” about her approach to welfare and migration.
“Our welfare system is there as a safety net for British citizens, and we will not be giving benefits to foreign nationals.”
She also pointed out that the social housing policy was not a sudden announcement and rejected claims the pledge had been pilfered from Reform UK’s own plans.
“We originally set out some of these policies back last year.
“As I said at the time of the party conference, we identified £23billion of savings from welfare."
“That included £7billion from stopping welfare payments to foreign nationals and saying we're stopping social housing for foreign nationals,” she said.
Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter
