Robert Jenrick, the Tories’ shadow Lord Chancellor, has caused a stir once again — this time blaming London’s eye-watering rent crisis on immigration. But it didn’t take long for people to point out what he conveniently forgot to mention.
Fresh off his viral moment confronting fare dodgers, Jenrick posted a video to X (formerly Twitter), claiming immigration was the reason renters are struggling. But the backlash? Swift. Brutal. Deserved.
Londoners are paying an estimated £216 extra a month in rent because of immigration levels since 2001.
💸 ‘Immigration is why your rent is sky-high’… apparently
In the clip, Jenrick claimed:
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“Londoners are paying an estimated £216 extra a month in rent because of immigration levels since 2001. Across England that figure is approximately £132. Mass migration is making young people poorer.”
The implication? Blame immigrants — not the government’s decades-long failure to build affordable housing, regulate landlords, or control the rental market.
🏘️ Jenrick owns three homes and was housing secretary
Critics were quick to dismantle Jenrick’s narrative. As user @I_amMukhtar put it:
“Robert Jenrick owns three houses, two £2m homes in London and a £1m house in Herefordshire. He was also the housing secretary. It’s because of people like him why the rent is going up, but he wants you to blame immigrants.”
That’s right — Jenrick had the housing brief during the Conservatives’ long run in power and did little to address spiralling rent, housing shortages, or inequality.
🔥 The internet wasn’t having it
Another user, @mrhenrymorris, didn’t hold back:
“Disgraced former Secretary of State for Housing who failed to build any new affordable housing says what now?”
1.
Remind me who was Secretary of State for Housing in 2019 when the Tories had promised 200,000 new homes and built precisely none?
Young Londoners like me are paying an extra £216 a month in rent because of greedy landlords getting away with unregulated runaway rent hikes, which are in turn facilitated by careerist and out-of-touch politicians like yourselves who want to convince us migrants are the issue.
Even your own report blames poor housing supply for this. Hmmmm if only the Tories had a minister for housing that could have made sure we built more houses 🤔 who might that be? pic.twitter.com/ffbxE8BNUA
No, it's because of your party of landlords pandering to other landlords – because people see investment rather than home and price out young and not so young people.
It's because of your Thatcher ghoul, a failure to replenish social housing stock.
The consensus online? Jenrick’s claims are a cynical distraction from policies that benefit landlords — like himself — at the expense of struggling renters.
