The number of "so-called" skilled visa sponsors have quadrupled in the past five years, with Martin Daubney dubbing the figures "absolutely absurd".

Data from Facts4EU and Stand for our Sovereignty have indicated that the figure has risen from 30,000 to almost 120,000, sharing the data exclusively on Farage.

More than 400 minicab and delivery firms are registered to sponsor so-called skilled worker visas, Martin reported live on air.

Nearly 1,000 corner shops and mini markets were also registered to sponsor so-called skilled worker visas, as well as more than 250 hair and barber shops.

'Skilled workers' include categories such as working in halal takeaways, barber shops and kebab parlours

"So, we were sold a lie when we were told that these were skilled worker visas all along," Martin fumed as he shared the data.

Robert Bates, a research director for the Centre of Migration Control, lauded the analysis because "this is the kind of information that we are not regularly being told".

"We're increasingly told that immigration is essential and that every individual coming across into the UK on an entry visa is somehow a huge boon to the economy," he added.

"When you see the fact that the number of companies registered to sponsor immigrants coming into the UK has increased fourfold in just five years - and effectively, once they're given this status, they're given carte blanche to throw around.

"Visas granted is pending some some degree of Home Office approval, but it really is carte blanche, basically. If you've given us some individual, we're really going to approve their visa.

"I think this really shows why we have seen such an explosion in recent years, especially in 2022 and 2023," Mr Bates said.

Mr Bates suggested that the given figures are "more than likely an underestimate" as the analysis was ascertained from the available material.

He suggested that "there are likely many other companies in the takeaway sector, in the cab sector, in the corner market sector that are actually sponsoring visas but are not identifiable as such".

"This is the reason why the Home Office really is unable to bring down the numbers to the level that most people in the country would like to see them," the director continued, "because it is effectively handed away sovereign control of our borders to vape shops, corner shops, takeaways."

"It's a ridiculous situation. It seems incredible that a skilled worker, I think we're led to believe this might be like nurses, you know, teachers, brain surgeons, engineers," he added.

Mr Bates also argued that "it makes a mockery of the entire notion of a skilled worker" but said it was a problem that falls on the Tory Party under Boris Johnson.

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"But I really think that the Labour Party, if they were serious about bringing down immigration to a level that people felt comfortable with, would start calling some of the companies that were on this list," he demanded.

However, commentator Fahima Mahomed hit back, saying that "a lot of people that are coming from abroad are actually more willing to work".

"If you don't like the actual terminology or the label of skilled worker, that's not the migrants' fault. That is actually the fault of the Government."

Subsequently, Ms Mahomed urged the Government to define the meaning, adding that, either way: "These people are still providing a service. It is business. It is marketing. It is supply and demand.

"They obviously have got businesses running. They are putting money into the economy. They are serving certain communities and the wider community as well."