BREAKING: Rylan Clark’s speech on the small BOATS CRISIS live on This Morning has sparked a huge number of Ofcom COMPLAINTS

This Morning was hit with 576 Ofcom complaints after Rylan Clark issued a blunt statement on the UK’s small boats crisis.

In a candid speech, Rylan said on live on air last week: “This country is built on immigration. Legal immigration — a lot of the nurses, the doctors that have saved my mum’s life have come over here from other countries. They’re 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 are risking their lives coming across the Channel. And when they get here, it does seem, and I think this is why a lot of Labour voters as well are saying there’s something wrong, it feels like, ‘Welcome, come on in’. That’s the narrative we’re being fed. 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.”

He continued: “There are people that have lived here all their lives that are struggling. They’re homeless. Let’s not even discuss our homeless. There are people living on the streets, veterans, all of this.

Rylan Clark has sparked divide with his comments (Image: ITV)

“Let me be honest, everyone’s going to have an opinion about this and you’re going to upset someone. 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. Not all, but some, what some are doing to people in this country.”

He finished off his statement by claiming that if he touched down at Heathrow Airport as a British citizen and left his passport in Spain, he wouldn’t be permitted entry, before questioning: “If I arrive on a boat from Calais, I get taken to a four-star hotel?”

Following the message live on air, Rylan took to Instagram to share another message as he addressed the backlash he was receiving. He said: “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,” he wrote.

This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1.