Moment Labour minister squirms in fiery Sky News migration clash: 'Send in Navy!'

A Labour minister was left squirming as he was questioned on whether the Royal Navy should be deployed to help deal with the small boats crisis.

Sky News' Trevor Phillips asked Treasury Minister James Murray about comments made by Labour peer Maurice Glasman that the Navy should be deployed in the Channel to intercept refugees attempting to enter the UK via small boats.

Murray said: "What we need to do is smash the gangs who are smuggling people across the Channel, we need to make sure the huge backlog of asylum applications are..."

He was then cut off by Phillips who said that the Government keeps promising "week after week" to "smash the gangs" but there has been a record numer of migrants crossing the Channel - almost 20,000 people from January to June.

Murray responded: "Let me tell you what we've also been saying week after week, which is that we are absolutely focused on this but it's not easy. There's not a single switch you can flick, this is not something you can fix overnight. This is something where you have to go from every possible angle.

"So, there's powers going through parliament now to give us counter-terrorist style powers against these gangs, there's work we're doing with France and Germany and other countries, there's work we're doing to bring down the asylum backlog in the UK. You need to go at this from every angle."

Phillips said despite the Government's work, there are still record numbers of refugees crossing the Channel, and asked if "it's time to do something new".

The Treasury Minister said the Government has deported 35,000 people, doubling the rate of asylum cases being decided, and reducing the number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers. He said they are "making progress" but "it's a big problem to crack".

Phillips then asked if the Government will be closing the 'asylum hotel' in Epping after the district council voted to urge the Government to move asylum seekers out of Bell Hotel "immediately and permanently" due to violent protests which led to 18 people being arrested.

Murray responded that the Government has halved the number of hotels being used to house asylum seekers, from 400 under the Tory government to just over 200, with more to close.

He said while he can't comment on the Epping hotel, he "understands people's frustration". The Treasury Minister said while there is "no space" for violence, there is a right for people to protest.