Rylan Clark immigration comments on This Morning spark hundreds of Ofcom complaints

Rylan Clark’s comments about immigration on This Morning have sparked hundreds of Ofcom complaints.

The show received 576 complaints related to comments made by the presenter on August 27 during a discussion about migrants being housed in hotels.

Clips of Clark, 36, quickly went viral, where he argued that something “major” needs to be done about asylum hotels.

During the discussion, Clark said: “This country is built on immigration, legal immigration. You know that a lot of the nurses, the doctors that have saved my mum’s life have come over here from other countries, are living a great life, they’re paying into this tax system, they’re helping this country thrive.

“I find it absolutely insane that all these people, one risk in their lives coming across the channel like that, they are but two, when they get here it does seem, and I think this is why a lot of Labour voters as well are now sitting there going there’s something wrong here, it seems ‘Welcome, Come on in’. This is the narrative we’re being fed.

“Here’s the hotel, here’s the phones, here’s the iPad, here’s the NHS in reception of your hotel, here’s three meals a day, here’s a games room in the hotel. Have a lovely time and welcome.

“And then there’s people that have lived here all their lives that are struggling. There are people living on the streets, veterans, all of this. Now this isn’t me getting on my soapbox, because, let me be honest, everyone’s gonna have an opinion about this, and you’re gonna upset someone some which way.

“I believe that something major needs to be done about this. The money that it’s costing us, the amount of people that are in this country that we have no idea who they are, what they’ve done, what they’re capable of and clearly, we see a lot of it in the press at the moment – what some are doing, it’s not all, what some are doing to people in this country.”

Rylan Clark’s comments on immigration on This Morning received hundreds of complaints (Ian West/PA) PA Media

The presenter later shared a statement on Instagram which read: “You can be pro immigration and against illegal routes. You can support trans people and have the utmost respect for women.

“You can be heterosexual and still support gay rights. The list continues. Stop with this putting everyone in a box exercise and maybe have conversations instead of shouting on twitter.”

It comes as discontent with how the Government has managed the small boats crisis and housed migrants in hotels has led to a wave of protests over the summer, and criticism from Labour’s political opponents.

The Government has committed to empty all hotels currently housing migrants by the end of the Parliament, which could be as late as 2029, but the Prime Minister suggested he wanted to “bring that forward” without committing to a date.