Alex Armstrong has accused the Government of telling “complete lies” by only announcing their latest refugee policy for “good headlines”.

On a new episode the Daily Expresso show, JJ Anisiobi brought up new plans unveiled by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, which will see refugees pay around £10,000 towards the cost of their accommodation and support.

The scheme is hoped to reduce the pull factors driving illegal migration, but the GB News presenter had other ideas about the likelihood of asylum seekers paying the bill, and deemed the Labour law as “performative rubbish”.

Mr Armstrong said: “I mean, how many students will pay off their student loans? It is just there because last week she said ‘oh, we’re going to allow more refugees into the country.’ That’s her latest policy, so that set the right off, she got attacked quite a lot from the centre and the right.

“This week she’s going ‘oh, what can I do, let me make sure they pay all their money back.’ It is complete lies. 40% of them are in work earning under minimum wage, or about 23 grand a year. Most of them never go into work, so they are a net drain on the country even after they’ve left the hotels and can work, they’re going to be on benefits from us.

“We all know it’s just performative politics. It’s there to appease the right. But if you look at the data time and time again, they’re never going to pay that money back. The problem is these are good headlines for Labour and Shabana knows it. She’ll tell her left friends ‘don’t worry, they’ll never pay it back’.”

On June 27, Ms Mahmood sparked outrage after vowing to introduce new legal routes for refugees. As of yesterday, the Home Secretary announced the £10,000 bill, she said the changes would demonstrate “asylum support is a right, but it is also a responsibility”.

Labour has been under increased pressure to reduce the £4bn of taxpayer money spent each year on asylum seeker accommodation and support.