Kemi Badenoch has said it is time to “make life less comfortable” for asylum seekers during an exclusive interview with GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope.

The Conservative leader claimed the current system is “not working” and proposed the use of detention centres and migrant camps as a deterrent.

She said: "When we had migrant hotels, we had men, women, and children in there. What we are seeing now is all-male hotels. That is not what asylum seeking looks like.

Kemi Badenoch sat down with GB News for an exclusive interview

"There is a problem when we are seeing all men turning up on these boats. I don't think just plonking them in the heart of a community is the right thing.

She added: "We need to make sure that people aren't getting a pull factor here because they know they'll get free board, free NHS care, and, you know, perks and luxuries.

"Many of those hotels are actually quite expensive, and the local community loses the amenity.

"I'm an Essex MP, and I've had constituents saying 'we wanted to have our wedding, but the hotels are not available. So we need to find a solution.

"The worst possible thing is if we start moving them into private landlord-owned accommodation, HMOs.

"That's the worst possible thing. We need to have something specially set up, whether it's camps or detention centres, and there's no point saying it's going to be expensive, it’s already expensive having them in the hotels."

Christopher Hope said: "So make life less comfortable for them?"

The Conservative leader agreed: "Make life less comfortable, but more importantly, keep our communities safe.

Christopher Hope asked the Tory leader if she will commit to leaving the ECHR

"Nobody should have to change where they jog or where they work because the Government has plonked an asylum centre there. That's not right."

When asked whether she will commit to leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, Badenoch refused to commit stating that "saying we will leave with no plan would cause a big mess."

She added: "What’s really interesting is that these numbers have just been going up and up. Labour scrapped the deterrence.

"There was a Rwanda plan which we put to the election, and we lost because it got lost in a lot of things but we should never have scrapped it. The US is now using what we paid for in Rwanda to deport their migrants. That’s terrible."

The Conservative leader’s comments come as migrant crossings have hit record highs in recent days, with the number of migrants arriving via small boats exceeding 50,000 since Labour took power last year.

The milestone was reached yesterday following the arrival of an additional 430 individuals who completed the perilous journey from French shores.

The statistics indicate that 23,242 people made the unauthorised voyage during the remainder of last year following Labour's electoral victory.

The Government announced on last week that its new bilateral returns agreement with France has become operational, featuring a "one in, one out" arrangement.

In the days following the implementation of this agreement, traffickers successfully transported over 1,500 individuals across the Channel to British waters.