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Almost 200,000 migrants were granted indefinite leave to remain in the year up to June 2026

Watch the moment GB News host Ellie Costello grills Conservative MP Matt Vickers on the party's "Boris wave" of migrants after staggering new Home Office data was released.

Discussing Britain's migrant crisis on GB News, the Shadow Immigration Minister argued he is "not entirely convinced" that the wave was responsible for the 16-year high in migrant permanent residency.

Fresh Home Office statistics showed the number of asylum seekers in the UK has ballooned beyond 73,000, while the number of those applying to settle has hit a 16-year high.

Those 73,000 migrants were housed in "non-hotel accommodation" in the 12 months leading up to June this year, three per cent higher than at the end of June 2025.

Asked whether the data is a "direct result" of the "Boris wave" of migrants entering the UK, Mr Vickers disagreed.

He told GB News: "I'm not entirely convinced it's my fault, but I think there is a huge challenge. The reality is too many people are coming into the country too fast, and it's not getting any better.

"There are real challenges on public finances, public services, housing, it can't be allowed to continue. When this Government came in, we tried to extend the requirement for indefinite leave to remain to say that you had to have stayed for a significantly longer in order to qualify for it.

"We also put in place legislation that meant that people who'd entered the country illegally could not become British citizens, that is the right thing to do. If you break into a country, you cannot be gifted citizenship."

Mr Vickers argued that the Government must now "leave the ECHR" in order to "send these people a message" when crossing the Channel.

He argued: "Where we need to be is we need to leave the ECHR. Anybody who enters the country illegally needs to be detained and needs to be deported. We need to send these people a message, we need to make it not worthwhile getting into those boats.

"It is completely wrong, it is completely unacceptable, and it comes with a huge cost to taxpayers across the country."

Pushing back on Mr Vickers's argument, host Cameron Walker then asked the MP: "So why didn't you leave the ECHR when you were in power for 14 years?"

Mr Vickers responded: "I wasn't a minister in the last Government, Kemi wasn't the leader. We've got to where we've got to with it, we've done the homework, we haven't just come out with it as a tweet or press statement.

"Kemi has gone away, got some of the greatest legal minds to look at what can be done and why it's required. The conclusion of that is we do need to leave in order to be able to protect our borders, in order to be able to protect our veterans and all the other things that allow us to be a sovereign state, making decisions in our best interest."

Challenging Mr Vickers a second time, Ellie echoed the views of GB News viewers, arguing that they "do not trust" the Tories to tackle the crisis as they "created the problem" in the first place.

Mr Vickers responded: "Well, the other thing that people also have to be aware of, you might call it the Boris wave, though the people have called it the Jenrick jump or the Suella surge, the person who was the Home Secretary, the person who was the Immigration Minister who've now gone on, picked up a different rosette and all is forgiven and they're going to have a fresh go.

"I'm standing behind Kemi Badenoch, who has very set views on this. She's done the homework, looked at how it is done, why we need to do it. There's a real plan there."

The Tory MP told GB News: "In fact, you know what? I'd be very happy for Andy Burnham tomorrow to pick up our plan, leave the ECHR, follow what we've set out about setting a cap on the number of legal migrants, about detaining and deporting anybody who breaks into this country.

"It's the right thing to do. It needs to be done for British people who are working hard, doing the right thing, paying a fortune in tax, seeing less police on the streets, less teachers in their schools, less places in their prisons."

In a statement, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said of the figures: "A little over two years into office and the asylum backlog is down, the number of asylum seekers in hotels is falling, illegal working arrests are at record levels, and deportations and returns are up markedly.

"Small boats numbers are also now falling, but we are not complacent and there is more we must do.

"That is why I have boosted enforcement on the French beaches and overseas and introduced new legislation to tackle the pull factors that draw people here through unsafe and illegal routes. This government is restoring control at our border and fairness to the migration system."