I thought I would reproduce the government’s statement on its Borders bill, as some of you are complaining that the government is not doing enough to stop illegal migration and some are concerned about government intentions.
The Bill will be firm but fair: fair to those in genuine need, but firm to those who break
the rules.
The principles behind the Bill are simple. Access to the UKâs asylum system
should be based on need, not on the ability to pay people smugglers; Illegal
immigration should be prevented. Those with no right to be in the UK should
be removed. Those in genuine need will be protected.
The case for change is overwhelming.
The system is broken. We stand by our moral and legal obligations to help
innocent people fleeing cruelty from around the world. But the system must be a fair
one. In 2019, UK asylum applications increased by 21% on the previous year to
almost 36,000 â the highest number since the 2015/16 European âmigration
crisisâ. The current appeals system is too slow. As of May 2020, 32% of asylum
appeals lodged in 2019 and 9% of appeals lodged in 2018 did not have a known
outcome. Shockingly, the asylum system now costs over ÂŁ1 billion a year to run.
The Bill â and the wider New Plan for Immigration â has three key objectives:
1. Make the system fairer and more effective so that we can better protect
and support those in genuine need of asylum. Over the last six years the UK
directly resettled 25,000 people from places of danger â more than any other
country in Europe.
2. Deter illegal entry into the UK breaking the business model of criminal
trafficking networks and saving lives. Small boat arrivals reached record levels this year, with over 3,700 people arriving in the UK this way in the first
five months of 2021. This is more than double the comparable figure for
2020.
3. Removing from the UK those with no right to be here. In 2019, enforced
returns from the UK decreased to just over 7,000 (7,192), 22% lower than the
previous year, and continuing a downward trend since 2013.
To make the system fairer and more effective, we will:
⢠Continue to resettle genuine refugees directly from places of danger, which
has protected 25,000 people in the last six years
⢠Continue to offer refugee family reunion, which has seen a further 29,000
people come to the UK over the last six years
⢠Meet our statutory commitment to lay in report in Parliament on the
outcome of the safe and legal routes review including family reunion for
Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (not in legislation but being taken
forward alongside the Bill)
⢠Improve support for refugees to help them build their life in the UK, integrate
and become self-sufficient members of our society.
⢠Introduce a new temporary protection status for those who do not come
directly to the UK or claim asylum without delay once here but who have, in
any event, been recognised as requiring protection. This status will afford only
basic entitlements whilst still meeting our international law obligations.
⢠Introduce reception centres for asylum seekers and failed asylum seekers who
require support (to replace hotels) so that they have simple, safe and secure
accommodation to stay in while their claims and returns are being processed.
⢠Introduce a new and expanded âone-stopâ process to ensure that asylum,
human rights claims, and any other protection matters are made and considered
together, ahead of any appeal hearing. This will prevent repeated last-minute
meritless claims that are simply designed to frustrate proper removal. Introduce a
new legal advice offer to support individuals so that all relevant issues can be
raised at one time.
⢠Strengthen the law to withhold modern slavery protections from serious
criminals and those who pose a threat to national security, set out the
circumstances in which temporary leave to remain should be granted to
confirmed victims of modern slavery and clarify the decision making thresholds
for potential and confirmed victims, in line with our international obligations.
⢠Reform nationality law to make it fairer and to address historic anomalies.
To deter illegal entry into the UK, we will:
⢠Introduce new and tougher criminal offences for those attempting to enter the
UK illegally by raising the penalty for illegal entry from six monthsâ to four years
imprisonment and introducing life sentences for people smugglers.
⢠Provide Border Force with additional powers to:
o Search unaccompanied containers located within ports for the presence of
illegal migrants using them to enter the UK;
o Seize and dispose of any vessels intercepted and encountered including
disposal through donation to charity if appropriate;o Stop and divert vessels suspected of carrying illegal migrants to the UK
and, subject to agreement with the relevant country such as France, return
them to where their sea journey to the UK began.
⢠Increase the penalty for Foreign National Offenders who return to the UK in
breach of a deportation order from six monthsâ to five yearsâ imprisonment.
⢠Implement an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme, similar to the
USA ESTA programme, to block the entry of those who present a threat to the
UK.
To remove from the UK those with no right to be here, we will:
⢠Confirm that the UK may remove people including criminals to a safe third
country and declare as inadmissible those who come here from a country where
they could have claimed asylum, so that they can also be removed to another
safe country
⢠Introduce expedited processes to allow rapid removal of those with no right to be
here
⢠Introduce a power to impose visa penalties on countries that do not cooperate
on the removal of its nationals who do not have a right to be in the UK.
⢠Ensure that compliance with the asylum or removal process without good
reason must be considered in deciding whether to grant immigration bail.
⢠Increase the length of the window in which Foreign National Offenders can be
removed from prison under the Early Removal Scheme for the purposes of
removal from the UK.
⢠Place in statute a single, standardised minimum notice period for migrants
to access justice prior to enforced removal, and confirm in statute that a new
notice period does not need to be re-issued following a previous failed removal,
for example where the person has physically disrupted their removal.
We need to act now.
July 21, 2021
I bet nothing is really done until the year running upto the next General election, the government as taken us for idiots over COVID and now they will try and pull the wool over our eyes on illegal immigration,
July 21, 2021
+1
Totally agree!
July 21, 2021
No value whatsoever. UK still in UN Migration pact and ECHR as part of the WA and NIP. Johnson stated last year these people would be sent straight back! Then again he persistently lies.
Has Patelâs czar resigned from the Channel? Another expense to the taxpayer when the record shows he failed in his task. Why give French more tens of millions, they must be laughing! Nearly 200 million wasted giving to the French. This is our money being wasted!
JR, your party has had 11 years, false promises, policies. We do not believe you.
July 21, 2021
Agree.
Passing legislation to appear to be doing something.
Constantly u turning on lockdow.
No faith whatsoever of anything tangible being done.
July 21, 2021
+1
July 21, 2021
+1
July 21, 2021
+1
July 21, 2021
+1
July 23, 2021
A rather underhand trick is to pass some legislation, get it signed into law by Her Majesty and then fail to commence it. Until commenced — a simple procedure — the Act is not applicable.
JF
July 21, 2021
Indeed no political will to tackle this, just worthless hot air from Patel and others. Perhaps as many 20,000 this uear and it is a serious terrorist risk too. Easy to stop if they wanted to deter them but they do not. So they keep paying the French another ÂŁ54 million but “once you have paid him the Danegeld/ You never get rid of the Dane.â
Starmerâs Labour would (on this and most other things) be even worse so voters have no where to go.
July 21, 2021
Lifelogic,
The belief that voters have nowhere to go no longer holds true. All the other main parties were broken – Whigs, Liberals and now Labour.
It would be best if the same happened to the current Conservative Party then we would see what would emerge from the chaos.
July 21, 2021
chaos? – – what happened to ‘build back better’? One can only hope.
July 21, 2021
It seems the average loss of life expectancy for a Covid victim is about 10 years. This equates to about 5 days of life per person in the UK. Yet the whole UK population has had their lives severely restricted for over 400 days. Plus we have many collateral deaths and economic damage caused by these over the top lockdowns.
Surely it is now very clear indeed that the Government has got the cost/benefit balance hugely wrong?
July 21, 2021
Also a big risk for crime levels.
July 21, 2021
Mick,
Agreed.
July 21, 2021
jam tomorrow
July 21, 2021
Correct. 2 million illegals in the UK. How many have been removed?
Or take Syria, Libya, Somalia, Nigeria or any of the other places. If you can go on holiday there, then there’s no claim for asylum.
But the elite want cheap servants and to force wages down
July 21, 2021
Exactly, blah blah blah from the former conservatives now Green/Yellow Party having signed up to lefty UN, Human Rights, ECHR legislation, agreements to allow and encourage this ÂŁ1 billion a year racket!. ……………to allow repatriation of unaccompanied children with their parents! Really. Like they’re encouraging people who send out their children alone to a foreign Country. Supporting irresponsible child abusers. You couldn’t make it up. Where’s my free 4* Hotel and pocket money, free food etc? Let us know the other Countries offering this and I’m on my way. Stop taxing me for your lefty doctrine and get tough! Millions are now without a political home.
July 21, 2021
I watched all the hand wringing and virtue signalling in the Commons yesterday.
Utterly astounding!
I thought we were still in a plague situation that expressly demands border control?
There is no moral way around itâŚthe governmentâs priorities should be to its own people.
Itâs only FAIR ( bleat)!
July 21, 2021
Anyone from these countries who can afford to pay a people smuggler or afford the airfare to the UK, does not need our “fairness”. They are already thriving in their current environment. It is the ones who stumble over their countries’ border to the nearest country and apply from within a refugee camp who are deserving of our compassion.
July 21, 2021
Exactly right Narrow Shoulders
July 21, 2021
Yes.
The govtâs constant bleating of FAIR or FAIRNESS nearly drives me as mad as they are.
My reserves of compassion is exhausted.
July 21, 2021
Commently agree – I was surprised at how many MPs yesterday said it was our ‘duty’ to look after the world (third world)
July 21, 2021
They are on a different planet and group think has lost them any common sense or understanding of their primary purpose to look after English people. They are wrapped up in climate change, diversity, lefty agenda’s and anything navel gazing!
July 21, 2021
Good morning.
I believe this Bill will have little effect and that clever lawyers and a sympathetic judiciary will overturn and waterdown much of it. It is nothing but a fig leaf to hide the government’s failure and embarrassment over the past 10 years.
People fail to understand that, in order to get to the UK they first have to pass through a number of safe countries to get here. Under international agreements they, the refugee, are obliged to seek sanctuary in the first country they pass through. The very fact that they do not and seek to come, illegally, into the UK only goes to prove they are nothing more than economic migrants. They know, as detailed by our kind host, that once they arrive and are given asylum they can then apply to have the rest of their families come to the UK – That is the aim / draw for these people. Free home, schooling and healthcare plus all the help they need setting up a life here. No wonder they try so hard.
I am for one am not impressed.
July 21, 2021
Mark B
+1
July 21, 2021
+1. Incredibly weak government statement.
July 21, 2021
Indeed the Government clearly have no intention of any serious deterrent action. This would clearly stop it. You have to be cruel to be kind unfortunately – on this issue.
July 21, 2021
So, what “serious deterrent” action – which would not get the UK put in The Hague – do you think should be taken?
Come on?
July 22, 2021
MiC we are told there are a number of Scottish islands with deserted homes and derelict crofts on them. These mainly young men could be homed in temporary accommodation (caravans) on them, give them the tools and equipment to repair the crofts and extend them to make hostels which could be used by backpackers and others, redecorate with donated second-hand furniture no-one in England wants anymore, power with new solar and ecosystems. Rebuild holiday homes and retreats and temporary assessment accommodation. It would give us an idea of the number of sincere asylum seekers that would be glad of something productive and useful to do, donations of wood, donations of paint and materials. It might speed up the assessment process too. The Scots won’t mind because they want more immigration as their population decreases.
July 22, 2021
I think that you will find that these islands are private property.
What changes to property law would you recommend, to compel its owners to surrender it to the Government?
July 22, 2021
The government could offer a fair deal for the land or rent the land. No more compunction than that.
July 21, 2021
It is not true that they have to claim sanctuary in the âfirst safe countryâ.
It is established in both international law and in U.K. case law that they can claim asylum where they like.
MPs received a briefing to this effect from the House of Commons library on 4 November 2019. You can find it on Google with the words âCommons library Channel migrants.â
Your entire thesis falls down when this central pillar is shown to be untrue.
July 21, 2021
Yet a quick internet search brings up this Wiki quote.
“To avoid abuses, European law, The Dublin Regulation, requires that asylum seekers have their claim registered in the first country they arrive in and that the decision of the first EU country they apply in, is the final decision in all EU countries”
July 21, 2021
Indeed. This applied when we were in the EU. But you left the EU.
July 22, 2021
The immigrants are inside the EU
July 22, 2021
That is utterly irrelevant Pete.
Only parties to an agreement can enforce it.
The UK no longer is such a party.
Can you not even grasp the basics?
July 22, 2021
It isn’t irrelevant at all MiC
The remaining 27 are still signed up to this law and must follow it as it applies to immigrants that are their responsibility whilst inside the EU.
July 22, 2021
The relevant European Union authority can say “must” if appropriate.
The UK cannot, just as any other non-member cannot either.
This really is side-splitting!
July 21, 2021
They already knew that, I think, but it won’t stop them repeating their fallacies and it never did.
It’s what they do over everything.
July 21, 2021
Prove me wrong then MiC.
You seen very sure of yourself.
July 21, 2021
Mark B
+100
Very well said.
Just how much more do we pay the EU to send more immigrants here?
July 21, 2021
Two things might make this bill workable
1. Return illegals the same day
2. Donât allow illegals access to legal aid or lawyers
âŚ..but what is that I hear you say, we can do that already under current laws â many arrivals at airports are returned same day due to incorrect visa etc but the boat people are a special case â theyâre visible and claim asylum immediately
July 21, 2021
And we all know the foolish legacies have agreed this with international agreements making the English people liable for their grandiose promises that we have to pay. Not just in money but poor health and public services provision, waiting in line behind millions of immigrants needs! Enough. Having just paid my “on account” in advance tax bill I am very underwhelmed with Priti Useless. 11 years in office and we get this rubbish!
July 21, 2021
Mark_B, I am sorry, but the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol do not make a requirement that the migrant-refugee-asylum seeker stays in the first safe country they reach. (unhcr.org âConvention and Protocol relating to the status of refugeesâ aka Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951). They are under no legal obligation to do so.
The UK signed the Convention on 11 March 1954 and the Protocol on 04 April 1968.
From there, two things:
1/ I am afraid the rest of your comment is meaningless.
2/ I agree that these two international documents refer to asylum seekers/refugees.
However giving that the only other document potentially dealing with economic migrants is the UN Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration signed by PM May in December 2018 (refugeesmigrants.un.org âGlobal Compact for Migrationâ) I would guess that only a proposal by the UK Government voted by a majority of Parliament (HoC, HoL) deciding to renege on that signature could take the UK out of this Compact. Which is nowhere to be seen in the Home Secretaryâs bill recently passed by Parliament (at least as far as I understand it).
July 21, 2021
You have missed off the EU’s Dublin Regulation heff.
July 22, 2021
The UK has left the European Union.
It cannot therefore enjoy any benefit of that jurisdiction.
You voted for that.
July 22, 2021
MiC
The immigrants are inside the EU.
July 22, 2021
MiC, ahh that’s what this is about is it. Just pass this big problem on to force us to rejoin.
July 22, 2021
Whether migrants are moved around within the European Union is entirely a matter for it and for its members.
The UK is no longer a member, so it is absolutely none of its business, and it cannot apply any pressure whatsoever to the European Union to do anything at all re the Dublin agreement.
That is why it is not worth mentioning.
July 22, 2021
Nonsense MiC it is their regulation which is agreed by all of the 27 member nations.
If the immigrants are inside the EU then it is for them to treat these people in accordance with the Dublin Regulation.
July 22, 2021
Which one?
ec.europa.eu âMigration and Home Affairs: Country responsible for asylum application (Dublin regulation)â
eur-lex.europa.eu âDublin III Regulationâ, 26 June 2013.
In case you did not realise it, the point of these documents and further protocols was to help Greece and Italy to be submerged by asylum applications, when the war started in Syria in 2011.
July 22, 2021
So what?
It is a law all 27 member nations have signed up to.
My original quote was from the protocol was correct.
July 22, 2021
Dublin Iii (EC604/2013) was also signed by the UK. And the fact that Germany took more than 1.1 m migrants during the summer of 2015, when practically all those had been fingerprinted in Greece, Italy and some in Spain, then moved through Europe being pushed out from country after country, weakened the scope and relevance of Dublin III.
So your quote is correct but refers to a rather weak treaty that only the UK is keen on defending now that it serves its interests, which is âhilariousâ (you love this word, donât you) thinking that strictly speaking Dublin III is no more a text relevant to the UK, and only the Geneva Convention applies.
I hope you see the ridicule of the situation.
July 22, 2021
Many thanks. I was thinking to the Dublin Proposals where they can be returned.
July 22, 2021
fullfact.org âDo refugees have to stay in the first safe country they reach?â latest update 22/09/2020.
July 22, 2021
If they are in the EU the Dublin Regulation applies to all member states.
July 22, 2021
Pete really is struggling with this privity of contract business, isn’t he?
July 23, 2021
No not struggling with that thanks MiC
I’m just pointing out that this EU law is appertaining to all potential asylum seekers who have arrived in the EU member nations.
And that it is not being properly applied.
July 24, 2021
P2, the point you clearly have difficulties to see is that Dublin III is a text to be effected within the EU. Whether the EU27/applies it or not (and they mostly donât) is their problem. The UK being out of the EU can only very indirectly use Dublin III as a basis for complaints as the main texts to be applied are the 1951 Geneva Convention, its 1967 Protocol and the more recent 2018 Global Compact.
July 22, 2021
+1
July 21, 2021
All well and good but as shown countless times in the news why are you coming to England? “We are if fear of our lives’ That makes it right does it?
Nearly always young men so accept them you can end up with all their families all eventually being paid for by taxpayers. No papers of identity. NO ENTRY whether it be by Border Force or the RNLI. The latter should keep their noses out of it, they are assisting criminal operations.
The gloves are off start playing hard ball, enough is enough. Get it sorted because if you don’t it has the power to not just bring the tories down but parliament itself.
July 21, 2021
I agree. They may say they are in fear of their lives, but half the World is on the move, and we cant take them all.
The worst thing is, we don’t know who they are, where they come from, whether they have a criminal record, the state of their health etc.
The Government is worse than useless in this regard. Over 700 in two days! (and more to come).
Because of their weakness in this regard, and others, I have terminated my membership of the Conservative Party, after many years. Neither will I be giving to the RNLI any more, or to any charities, who think it is our âmoral dutyâ, and that, âwe are not doing enoughâ.
July 21, 2021
+1
July 21, 2021
I’m not giving to RNLI either.
July 21, 2021
I have just emailed the RNLI to infirm them I am not supporting them anymore.
July 21, 2021
Best of luck.
July 21, 2021
Enforced returns 7000, estimated illegals living here one million. Boris suddenly saying the situation is unacceptable because political pressure is more important than the reality. Sums up all the bolleaux we have been fed for years.
All meaningless legalise that will do little/nothing to stop the boat people. As if they care if the boats are sold for charity. Small boats will continue to flood across the channel and there is nothing that this Bill can do to stop them. Turn them back, has anyone in this government tried to turn a boat back when they will just bear away and then come in on another tack.
Are you really saying you will force boats with kids in etc to go round and round until they run out of fuel and then leave them drifting. Again you think the British public are fools.
Only one solution, create a compound that is like airside at an airport, not UK territory, put them there as soon as they arrive and then without delay ship,them to a third country.
Once they are on U.K. soil whatever you set out will have little effect. Farage will be having a field day.
Please make a note to follow some cases and advise us how quickly they are returned. Then I certainly will start to believe you.
In other news we are told workers that want to avoid quarantine will have to apply to the appropriate department for an exemption. Please tell how logistically that will be managed. Looks panicky, not thought through or achievable? The answer is easy. Delete the app as more and more people are doing;
How can you continue to justify Test and Trace when to anyone with any common sense it is to all intents and purposes it is useless. Instead of breaking an election manifesto to put N.I. up to pay for Social care, cancel T and T and spend the money where it can be more effective.
July 21, 2021
Once a criminal always a criminal – what happens next time they need something?
July 21, 2021
The only justification for Test and Trace as far as I can see seems to be that they promised their mates billions of pounds of our taxes and they fully intend to do that. No doubt there will be some penalty clause in the contract if they cancel it early so it costs the same regardless.
July 21, 2021
Re the Bill which will no doubt be amended to deathâŚ
âFine words butter no parsnipsâ.
We have had enough of promises and lies!
July 21, 2021
With the whole of the labour party, the majority of the tory party and carrie (apparently the PMs chief advisor) supportive of illegal immigration I donât see any change anytime soon
July 21, 2021
+1
July 21, 2021
How very strange that in the light of its historic craven terror of right wing politics the tories should pursue the very policies likely to lead to right wing resurgence.
Maybe the tories have tied themselves up in knots over various weak kneed compacts, agreements and pledges of eternal obedience to various foreign powers?
Who pays for it all in every possible way?
Why we do of course!
July 21, 2021
Good Morning, Sir John,
I remember wishing for a clearer explanation in December 2018 of why Theresa May agreed to adopt The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration’.
At the time it felt as though she was signing the UK up to something over which we would have little control, just when we were negotiating leaving the control of the European Union and seeking to regain sovereignty over all our affairs. (The inclusion of the phrase ‘orderly and regular migration’ is slightly unsettling.)
I wonder if at some point in the future you could please explain to us what if any impact this Compact will have on the Government’s Borders Bill. Thank you very much.
I copy below an extract from the UK Parliament, House of Commons Library: ‘The United Nations Global Compact for Migration’ published Friday 16th August 2019.
‘The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is an intergovernmentally negotiated agreement, prepared under the auspices of the United Nations (UN).
‘The text of the Compact (GCM) was agreed at the UN General Assembly in July 2018 and formally adopted at an intergovernmental conference in Marrakesh in December 2018.
‘It aims to foster international co-operation on migration in a comprehensive manner, in order to âfacilitate safe, orderly and regular migration, while reducing the incidence and negative impact of irregular migration,â and also âto reduce the risks and vulnerabilities migrants face at different stages of migration by respecting, protecting and fulfilling their human rights and providing them with care and assistance.â
‘The GCM sets out 23 objectives to achieve safe, orderly and regular migration. Within each objective it sets out a range of actions that can be drawn from in order to implement the objective. The text of the GCM affirms that it is a ânon-legally binding, cooperative frameworkâ and that States have the âsovereign right . . . to determine their national migration policy . . . in conformity with international lawâ.
July 21, 2021
They always blithely add to our obligations without so much as a by your leave to us, the electorate.
July 21, 2021
I was under the impression that Theresa May (remainer) signed the UK up to the âThe United Nations Global Compact for Migrationâ upon instruction from the EU
July 21, 2021
Theresa May signed up to this UN nonsense, knowing that asylum seekers are never dispersed to her Maidenhead constituency. None of them are dispersed to Witney either, are they Cameron.
July 21, 2021
1 Let it be known that if someone arrives in the UK illegally (without papers in a small boat) they will never get asylum in the UK and be deported.
2 When such illegal migrants arrive in the UK they should be finger-printed, as use of false names and documents are no proof of identity; so if another attempt is made, using a different name, they can be identified.
3 They should then swiftly be loaded on to a landing craft and returned to the French beaches from whence they came.
July 21, 2021
Nan, re your No 3: do you seriously imagine that France will allow UK vessels to enter their waters for such a purpose?
Every state in the world, especially those alluring to genuine refugees and economic migrants, is in a state of shock and frayed nerves because of the pandemic, and all it would need would be a tired or worried officer making a hasty and aggressive step – I, for one, would not relish yet another resurrection of Anglo-French wars.
July 21, 2021
The French have been escorting small boats from their coast to UK waters – we’d just be returning the “favour”. Under SOLAS small boats could be towed back – but punctured on release.
July 21, 2021
SM
“I, for one, would not relish yet another resurrection of Anglo-French wars.”
Then you’d be in a minority.
July 21, 2021
This poster seriously claims that a majority of the UK’s sixty-seven million people want war, with France.
July 21, 2021
How much of a difference would it make to our relationship with the French? It’s not great now!!
July 21, 2021
And you miss the point entirely.
July 21, 2021
+1
An amendment!
Stop the landing craft 50 Yards off the beach and make the land combat style as these men are combatants.
July 21, 2021
Zero marks out of ten thinking you can just landing craft people to land on a foreign territory. On that basis I presume the French could equally do it to us.
A modicum of reality wouldnât go amiss.
July 21, 2021
Nig 1
That is exactly what the French are doing, and have been doing for decades.
July 21, 2021
Fully agree, and perchance escorted back mid channel before they land
July 21, 2021
Will there be stricter checking and verifying that “children” are indeed under 18??
July 21, 2021
Meanwhile generations of my family have done EXACTLY what was asked of them.
And now the government has turned the country they loved, obeyed and served into a prison camp.
Successive governments have destroyed everything that was good and sane and wholesome.
And we have to live the recurring daily nightmare of moral inversion.
And the government, which presumably would have to call on us if there were ever a real emergencyâŚ.cares not one single jot.
July 21, 2021
+1
July 21, 2021
So relatives cannot visit their parents/spouses in care homes unless they have had the vaccination. Shows how nasty the members of the government are; they are determined to introduce the electronic identity pass and their police, no longer police, bash up protestors.
The current invasion, legal and illegal, is government policy, it will continue.
July 21, 2021
What about the risk to the rest of the people in the Care Home? That doesn’t matter I take it?
July 21, 2021
This is an area where this Government, and others before it, have spectacularly failed the people. Iâve never read so many platitudes in one statement but that is what weâve come to expect from Priti Patel. Thereâs even a provision to return the boats from whence they came?! Do you trust that they wonât find their way back into the hands of the people smugglers?!
MPs seem to overlook the sheer embarrassment and concern of citizens of the 4th military power having to watch a daily influx of unidentified migrants onto our beaches. How much of Africa and the Middle East are we to take? Why not sort out issues in their homelands so no trips are necessary? This is the most serious threat to the Conservativesâ continuance in Government.
July 21, 2021
Mike P
“This is the most serious threat to the Conservativesâ continuance in Government.”
They have no chance to continue in government. People now recognise them for the shysters they are.
July 21, 2021
My solution.
Refuse immigrant boats entry to British waters where detected, and make it illegal for Border Force to admit them or leave British waters to “rescue” them.
Detain all illegal immigrants in a holding camp until their identity is known.
Return the illegal immigrants to their home country and make it a condition of diplomatic relations that countries receive their citizens.
If their home country is too dangerous, return them to the bordering refugee camp and give aid to the country hosting it.
Immigrants should not be returned to France unless they are French – they don’t want them either.
Immigrants who travel through safe countries on their journey to the UK forfeit their right to claim asylum here.
Prison sentences won’t deter people for whom a UK prison cell represents comparative heaven.
The business model of the people traffickers has to be broken.
Give no more money to France for doing nothing.
July 21, 2021
Priti knows full well that prison sentences won’t deter them, not that they’ll be serving them anyway.
Yet again it’s the Tories deceiving their voters.
July 21, 2021
Well said on your last statement about the frogs
July 21, 2021
Totally agree with what you have said another thing the government needs to do is to stop benefits because the reason they are coming is because they get everything they want free , they want homes to come to come to as well while our younger generation donât stand a hope in hell in their own country of ever getting one , everyone on disability heâs had some of the money they worked for taken away , pensioners are the second worst paid in the world , NHS and EDucation are suffering no school places , no hospital beds freeloaders are taking them now we have doctors surgeries with doctor who will not have face to face appointments this has all happened since the Tory government got their claws into our parliament
July 22, 2021
Aren’t benefits only available if you’ve lived here ten or sixteen years?
July 21, 2021
I have cancelled my donations to the RNLI after 17 years and told them why (they are colluding with traffickers) and are now a bigger threat to my family’s safety than a help.
They told me that they are impartial and non-judgemental and I pointed out that if a bunch of 30 grown England fans had taken a couple of kids on a barely seaworthy craft to force a rescue to France for (say) the Euros the RNLI would be all over the TV channels condemning it. France is a safe, Northern European country. No excuses.
I’ve also cancelled my National Trust membership over Woke.
It really seems like the country is going to the dogs after 11 years of Tory rule. This government is terrifying.
July 21, 2021
more words and no action from the Government
July 21, 2021
What an absolutely appalling post.
The RNLI save people at risk of drowning. It is not their job to work out how the person at risk got in the water.
It is frankly appalling that you think it is okay to let people drown just because they come from another country.
Let me know how much you used to donate to the RNLI and I will double it. Some of us are not morally bankrupt.
July 21, 2021
Yes, Andy, as the writing, so is the writer, I think that it is fair to say.
July 21, 2021
At least I did donate to the RNLI and various other charities. Why aren’t you donating already ?
I don’t want them to let people drown but then I don’t want my money facilitating the people smuggling industry and making more attempted crossings inevitable either. Let the government that has put them in this awful situation make up the shortfall.
Especially when a fair percentage of those being brought ashore will go on to commit crime and murder and maybe even terrorism.
July 22, 2021
RNLI – -Our strategy. Working together with partners and communities, we aim to educate, influence, supervise and rescue those at risk from drowning.
The Border Force /RNLI are not rescuing- they are a free ferry to England.
July 21, 2021
I do not want the RNLI to be impartial between British citizens and foreign, criminal, invaders. Yes, we *should* be “judgemental”, and judge these people to be of no benefit to Britain and therefore push them back whence they came!
July 21, 2021
Well, the RNLI are not criminals – as you would wish them to be – so they will continue to follow the Law Of The Sea.
You are a disgrace to this country, on the other hand.
Any illegal entrants rescued by them will generally be deported after Due Process under international law.
July 21, 2021
Your last sentence is not born out by the figures MiC which show very few are defined as illegal and even fewer out of the total are deported.
You say “all”
That is wrong.
Surely you realise this.
July 22, 2021
I say any – but the point is that only if their claims are shown to be invalid do they become “illegal” as you put it.
This country finds that in about half as many cases as France, incidentally, but that does not mean that our processes are necessarily weaker – they could be different classes of claimant.
July 22, 2021
Of course he does. He and Andy just spout lefty bullshit. I’d like to know what percentage of his income he gives to the RNLI. Zero, I’d bet, just like Andy gives. How many of these people are in Andy’s chateau in France as he can’t use it? I’ve asked that before but all we get is silence. How many has MiC got as neighbours. Has he asked his council to put some up and bump Welsh people down the housing list?
July 22, 2021
You called them illegal in your post MiC
And failed to address the points I made
July 22, 2021
I don’t want illegal immigration any more than you do Graham, but this country has to obey international law.
This country rejects about half of these claimants, so that means that it accepts the others, and therefore they were never “illegal” as you wrongly call ALL of them.
It does not mean that those who can remain will achieve citizenship either, they may be given temporary leave subject to review, for instance.
July 21, 2021
It’s a crap bill – we are full up. As we fight the Chinese plague virus with bungling Boris as the ringmaster, our health care system (free health care being the main driver of the migrants) is struggling. We should just detain them and send them back from whence they came.
I voted for Jeremy Hunt in the leadership election and it is a matter of regret to a significant section of the party that he failed to attract enough support to win.
July 21, 2021
Sakara
“As we fight the Chinese plague virus with bungling Boris as the ringmaster”
……shysters & liars are not normally exhibit a bungling trait, what they say and do is usually carefully calculated to hide hidden agenda.
July 21, 2021
This was the Boris Manifesto his personal guarantees:-
Extra funding for the NHS, with 50,000 more nurses and 50 million more GP surgery appointments a year. (most cannot even get to see a GP).
20,000 more police and tougher sentencing for criminals. No sign of this they keep letting violent criminals out to offend again.
An Australian-style points-based system to control immigration. (but not if you arrive in a RIB to Kent it seems)
Millions more invested every week in science, schools, apprenticeships and infrastructure while controlling debt. (controlling debt sure?)
Reaching Net Zero by 2050 with investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and pollution. (This will cost ÂŁTrillions, will kill many people, wreck the economy and achieve nothing. It should be dropped now)
We will not raise the rate of income tax, VAT or National Insurance. (They have clearly decided to rat on this already by freezing allowances which puts up the effective rate and by putting up NI shortly it seems).
July 21, 2021
Oh dear – – bet it doesn’t get reprinted.
July 21, 2021
There are too many people who have lived in Countries without any perception or understanding of minor illness . Most want to see a Dr for general aches and pains where simple rubefacients or OTC meds would help, a daily problems is hay fever where OTC products are in abundance with Pharmacists to help , ear syringing and verrucas feature daily . Many want to see a Dr because they haven’t seen one this year. A greater percentage of patients are clogging the system . There are Nurses who diagnose, treat , refer, do ECG’s and other physiological tests themselves usually on the same day, whereas Drs cannot undertake these very necessary tests and refer to others mainly with waiting times of months or weeks. The system must wake up to the limitations of Drs and let them get on with the more complex cases where clinical need is greater.
July 22, 2021
Ear syringing is no longer paid for and as a result, most doctors no longer do it. The NHS recommends micro suction, but they only do that for specific conditions including ear surgery and recommend paying a high street outfit, with no knowledge of their experience or qualifications. I understand you don’t actually need any to potentially ruin someone’s ears. Tried getting a doctors appointment lately? The pharmacists say see the doctor when you ask them almost anything, but it is almost impossible.
July 22, 2021
Drs have’t ever carried out syringing, Micro suction is carried out in secondary care.The Nurse has always carried this procedure out . This is not in a Drs scope , however in the wrong hands can cause tympanic perforation. Amongst absolutely everything else which is carried out in General practice I used to carry out this regularly until covid. You are amongst the many who actually cannot understand that a qualified clinician is more useful than a Dr in primary care,more qualified more experienced and holistically focused . I must say that there are a few with advanced qualifications who still manage to take their own physiological measurements and tests at consultation. Stop telling your grandma how to suck eggs!
July 22, 2021
‘Doctors’ – i.e. GP practices. Syringing not now centrally paid for, or recommended so mostly not done.
I know about specialist nurses and have one regularly asses my Asthma. You really must not assume things you know nothing about, making sweeping generalisations about what I know based upon your mis-interpretation of ‘doctors’. Its what people call their GP practices.
I can talk about micro-suction. I’ve been having it in hospitals every 6 months since my ear surgery 30 years ago. I doubt you have any experience of it. I have regular hearing tests (another specialist clinician) and even had micro-suction and hearing tests during the Covid pandemic. Don’t be so rude when you don’t know me or my experiences, anyone would think you are a receptionist.
July 22, 2021
Margaret, what % of patients on an average doctors list don’t see their GP for one year, three years or five years? I know plenty of people that haven’t seen a GP for over ten years. These statistics are easy to produce. I honestly feel that rather than a majority who go in and make an appointment to see a ‘GP’ with veruccas and hayfever it is less than 25% of the GPs overall patient list, again this could be calculated and that section of the GP’s list could be sent a list of where they need to go for treatment instead or to book with the clinic nurse if they are on benefits and can’t afford the expensive private treatments you refer to.
July 21, 2021
Well researched.
So the Boris manifesto turns out to be just another sheet of paper with flowery and as is now proven, dubious promises, to seduce the voters, much in keeping with the low standards of previous occupants of Number 10.
If we were a true democracy, the written signed and pledged manifesto (Which lays out the Party plan) should be taken as a legal document – a contract with the electorate. Accordingly there should be penalties written into it, like having to explain in public and in detail with no waffle, why the promises were not fulfilled.
Additionally, when a new Bill is proposed that will necessitate a large cost to the Tax Payers, a National Referendum should be conducted for British tax payers approval BEFORE it is passed.
It is wrong that once elected, a Party is free to do as their vanity may dictate, in wildly spending money that does not belong to them.
July 21, 2021
Fine words butter no parsnips Sir John.
When illegals are not welcomed at our shores with blankets and meals, instead put back to sea or left to float in the channel and when deportations reach the same level as illegal arrivals at airports and ports and when assessments are much more timely we will see that the problem is being taken seriously.
I note that there is nothing in the statement about protecting our population from criminals and from the theft of our services which are already in scarce supply. Perhaps your government might consider this as part of levelling up in which case it would get the focus it truly deserves.
July 21, 2021
So read the post. Where’s the timescales for removing these people?
Why are they not assessed in 2-3 days?
Why are none of them being prosecuted? With a criminal record, they would have to declare it?
Why no comments about France being safe?
Instead we get the oh but they are fleeing persecution or war?
Well when people are going to Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria Libya on holiday [see youtube] then its gone wrong. We are being conned.
July 21, 2021
We know what will happen, all the stuff in the bill that encourages migration, and there is a lot of it, will get implemented with bells attached. All the stuff that half heartedly seeks to deter migrants, well that will be the last we hear about it .
Unless you tear up May’s Migration Compact , something she had no right or mandate to sign us up to, at the very least change the Asylum Convention, if not withdraw from it, and limit the scope of the Human Rights Act, then the invasion of our country will continue at a pace.
At the very least do not, DO NOT make matters a whole lot worse with the ‘safe route ‘ scam , you set up safe routes and we will get inundated.
The Conservative Government is now on borrowed time on immigration and asylum, all your rhetoric on it has come to naught if not got a whole lot worse, you had better start delivering.
July 21, 2021
I agree.
This Government spends far to much effort appeasing and pandering to the ‘WOKE’ crowd – those who will never vote Conservative.
Just because you don’t agree with the extremes of WOKE, does not make you any kind of ‘phobe’, ‘ist’, or bigot.
By doing so, they continue to alienate those that did vote, or would vote Conservative.
The ‘red wall’ are sensible people. They don’t like the EU, or WOKE, yet this Government risks this shift in their favour by continuing to pander to the vocal WOKE minority.
Start listening to the majority, you won’t win elections pandering to the minority.
July 21, 2021
They are not pandering to anyone except their voters and “usual friends”.
However, they are, unlike you, aware of international law and what can and cannot be done under it.
July 21, 2021
Actions speak louder than words and it’s the actions of the authorities that are the megaphone for encouraging illegal activities. It’s not money that’s going to solve the problem, but the will and determination to do it. It will fail.
July 21, 2021
It’s really a question of resolve – will the government follow through to make sure these rules get applied?
….and will those that are supposed to be sorting out the problems on the front line actually comply with the rules?
July 21, 2021
Just another load of waffle which is totally meaningless.
July 21, 2021
Similar to Dave Andrewâs. Put them on ships to take them to camps on the Ascension Islands where they shall stay to be processed. Rejects shall be deported or stay in their camp until they say where they came from. They shall never set foot in the UK unless their application is approved. Alternative arrangements for women and children but no permanent stay until their application is approved. The sight of a large ship at the Channel border to take them away should stem the flow.
July 21, 2021
Enjoy your trip, the next time that you mislay your passport returning from your hols then.
July 21, 2021
What a stupid comment. He would be doing nothing illegal as he lives here.
July 22, 2021
OK, well define the offence in legal terms, so that such situations cannot arise, then.
I’m waiting.
July 21, 2021
Silly comment MiC
Any UK citizen could prove their status easily.
The authorities would hold previous passport records, driving licence records, council tax records, voting records, NIC records, HMRC tax records,birth certificates, marriage certificates and many other methods.
July 22, 2021
I wonder if that is not a silly comment from you.
Most EU citizens living in the UK also had a passport, UK driving licence records, NIC records, HMRC tax records, foreign birth certificate and possibly UK marriage certificate, plus UK credit card agencies reports and the like, and they were asked to go through the rigmarole of applying for Settled Status. Now they can more or less easily justify their presence in the UK by connecting to a server at the Home Office.
Do not tell me it is impossible that a UK subject having to justify their presence in the UK could not be in a pickle if the police were deciding to be unhelpful, as I doubt that person would appear on any such HO server (if not a criminal).
But it is good to be optimistic.
July 23, 2021
What irrelevant nonsense heffy.
Go back to MiCs original post.
He was effectively claiming that a UK resident and citizen could be sent to an offshore island just because he has mislaid his passport.
Come off it.
July 23, 2021
P2, in your usual manner, you try to deflect the point I was making. I was responding to you, to your âsilly nonsenseâ comment to MiC, âAny UK citizen could prove their status easilyâ.
I am afraid you have never been taken without an ID of some kind in a demonstration by the police. The reason so many people demonstrating even peacefully finish the day with a couple of hours in a police station is that, contrary to what you think, it is not so easy âto prove oneâs statusâ in the absence of such a paper. Not because police officers are âmeanâ but because they are busy, and running some verifications takes time, maybe five minutes per person but dealing with 100 people âŚ
Try it and then come back to comment and report with a proper knowledge.
July 22, 2021
You clearly do not realise, that orders more people become clandestine immigrants here simply by landing normally at airports on visas and then simply melting into the crowd, than arrive by dinghy etc.
What do you propose to do about this FAR greater – perhaps ten times or more – number?
The Channel stories – to stir resentment against the French as ever – are basically a cover for this much greater failure by government.
July 22, 2021
MiC
What on earth has this reply got to do with your original post which has been ridiculed.
Divert and run away is your ploy
And it is failing every time you use it.
July 22, 2021
It is not in that thread.
Learn how this site works.
July 23, 2021
You might learn to address your posts to a specific person in a long thread MiC
Learn how the site works.
July 21, 2021
Have the 500,000 from HongKong here yet?
July 21, 2021
How many different laws do you require to stop illegal immigration and secure our borders John ?
You only want one, which is clear, properly written and ENFORCED.
Has any democratic Country in the World managed to curtail illegal immigration successfully who we can learn from.?
Perhaps Australia which is also and Island, so why have we not at least adopted some of their known tried and trusted methods.
Sorry to keep on and on, but why do Politicians always want to go for a complicated, time consuming, expensive, and difficult to run policy, and then try to cut the front line enforcement personal down to the absolute minimum, but still support taxpayer funded expensive lawyers to work against and frustrate the said system.
I see we have found another ÂŁ54 million to pay France, how much have we paid France already over the years.?
We have already funded expensive fences around ports, and contributed to many projects but the situation just gets worse, because they now actually escort illegals part way across the channel, and make an appointment part way across for our side to collect them.
By now you would have thought lessons would have been learnt, but no, the farce just gets worse and worse every year.
What a bloody shambles, complete and utter madness from the clueless in charge.
July 21, 2021
Words, useless words, the hallmark of this useless government. It doesn’t matter if you impose 20 years prison as a penalty, we don’t have the jails or the courts to process the numbers. It says we will return them to France subject to agreement with the French. Right there you know it is a meaningless statement, the French won’t do it. We paid the French millions to stop it happening and all we get is the French navy escorting them to the border and we are now going to give them another 53 million to pour down the same hole. All this does is introduce more rights, will have no effect on stopping the trade and is the usual classical political displacement activity. All that will happen is that our costs will go up even further. The real answer is to turn the boats back in the channel and stop them getting here in the first place. If the French don’t like it, tough, we’ve had enough of their duplicity for hundreds of years. They are not people of their word.
July 21, 2021
I am tired of the failed policies implemented by this government. I want fairness for the English people with a net-zero approach to immigration. I do not want to:
âMake the system fairer and more effective so that we can better protect
and support those in genuine need of asylum. Over the last six years the UK
directly resettled 25,000 people from places of danger â more than any other
country in Europe.â
WHY are we doing this? England is one of the most overcrowded countries in the world. Where does this end? Will it be when we are as poor as the countries these people are fleeing from? Itâs time for countries with more space to step up and do their bit.
July 22, 2021
Over the last 20 years the UK population has increased by 9 million, most of which is immigration. Not doing our bit? Tell us another one.
July 21, 2021
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Nothing will change. ‘Illegal immigration should be prevented’ – not ‘will be’ or ‘must be’. Big emphasis on being ‘fair’. That’s a word to authorise weakness.
Most of this will not be implimented. And it is noted that the most effective method of stopping the Channel invasion – at sea – will require the agreement of France. Another display of weakness – no reserving of the right to take unilateral action. The French won’t agree so the illegal invasion will continue. We’ve given them money to stop boats getting away in recent years. Did they do it? Did they H…!
Gutless ‘Boris’ will not stop the crossings, clearly this states he won’t. The Border Farce and RNLI will continue to help them over and then add their families.
I will not be giving any more money to the RNLI.
I wish I could do more to get government take decisive immediate action. But it and most Tory MPs are of the limp-wristed variety, miles away from the real world believing in paper and discussion solutions only. They and ourselves are thus laughed at by those on their way here.
July 21, 2021
By repute, the profits from people smuggling are greater than those from the illegal drugs trade. I question what is really going on with so much money swilling about. How can migrants arrive in Greece, Italy or Eastern Europe and pass all the way through Europe, seemingly without hindrance while the legal citizens have and are suffering restrictions on their travel during Covid. All the national police and intelligence services must know the detail by now. I suspect that for financial gain at a lower level and political expediency at a higher level a blind eye is being employed.
Please do not tell me that the french intelligence service do not know where all the rubber boats are being manufactured and where the engines are coming from. Recourse to engine numbers alone would delineate the supply path. Are the gendarme abed when all this equipment is transported to the limited number of suitable beaches on the french channel coast. Then there is the delivery of migrants in their hundreds to embark at the beaches. Even french holiday makers must witness some of the activity. I strongly suspect that the forces of law in France are complicit in the whole operation following political instruction to leave well alone/ Sending the problem to sea is a problem solved. In the final stages the french navy act as escorts to the rubber flotillas until the median line. Individual captains do not make those decisions, they come from government.
Our own intelligence services must be totally aware of what is going on from the Mediterranean to the Channel. Our Border Force are being made fools of by being required to act as hosts to this political and financial payola. It is long overdue that this evil business was exposed to the light of day and those financial and political beneficiaries exposed to the World. In the light of my suspicions, Priti Patel is being used as an Aunt Sally undeservedly.
July 22, 2021
Why , are you fearful of what every indication suggests, I could be absolutely correct or do you see yourself as part of the cover up.
July 21, 2021
Yeah right John, the tories are traitors and will do nothing, as usual. Your party gives not a jot for the people who are forced to pay your wages. With Tory majority, real change is possible in so many areas, but nothing happens. Traitors. I detest the lot of you.
July 21, 2021
I believe Theresa May agreed to accept this, she signed the UN agreement, she then paid, yes paid France millions to facilitate it (if not get our money back from France because they failed to keep our agreement), don’t tell me they aren’t conscious of all the boats being inflated on their coast and they know exactly what is going on and they’re loving it passing their problems on to the UK. They are reported by the UN all the time for mistreating migrants yet they get away with it.
It was very interesting to hear Farage interview the chap on GB News from asylum watch. He now needs to research what the guy claimed and bring him back next week giving the guest time to review Nigel’s statements. All of the costs relating to asylum claims need to put calculated and put in our foreign aid budget – start to tell the truth!
Your government is telling us that you need extra taxes for social care in a year when we’re also told an extra 100,000 mainly elderly people have died from covid relieving the state of their upkeep, care home costs, home care costs etc. doctors and hospitals aren’t seeing people.
July 21, 2021
I rather think that after this ineffective Bill this Government is dead in the water. All talk and no action just watch the red wall come crumbling down
July 21, 2021
Improve support for refugees to help them build their life in the UK, integrate
and become self-sufficient members of our society.
=======
How do you do that?
Break-even is ÂŁ38,000 a year?
Then there are the off-the-book pension debts at 14 trillion. That comes with a ÂŁ600,000 debt. Do you tell the “migrants” that they have a share of the debt? Since those debts are increasing at 10%+ over the long term, plus another 8% this year because of wages, do you demand that they pay an additional ÂŁ60,000 a year in taxes to cover their fair share?
Or do the brits get the bill and the cuts?
July 21, 2021
Do you not even understand the difference between a contingent liability and a debt?
July 22, 2021
Play on semantics all you want, MiC. The fact is your tone has grave consequences. Such as yours caused us to quit the EU, slap Labour into outer space, quit the National Trust and now quit the RNLI.
You won’t even acknowledge that we did good deeds in supporting those charities.
Keep telling us we’re s*** and we’ll behave like we’re s***.
July 22, 2021
I asked a simple question, no more, but at least you seem to be developing an insight into what your own actions are at last.
A thing is as it does.
July 21, 2021
Surely it can’t be beyond the realms of possibility in this day and age to find out who is ordering and taking delivery of the dinghies? ?? If the powers that be really wanted to stop the people smuggling I am sure they could find a way.
July 21, 2021
It’s more than obvious that staunch supporters of the so called Tory party are completely disillusioned with what is going on with Boris and Carrie at the helm. The blatant destruction of our country and way of life including our culture and beliefs are under attack. Wokism is rife and it almost feels with the adverts on TV and on Web sites that white people are the minority now. I won’t be voting for more of this garbage. I sincerely hope by the election there is an alternative to the 3 useless ones we have now.
July 21, 2021
Your beliefs appear to be little better than obscurantist, superstitious, mumbo-jumbo, dressed up in modern language.
July 21, 2021
Oh dear. When are you going to bed Martin? Your posts are ridiculous tonight. It’s obvious you and Andy are in competition with one another to see who can write the most idiotic post. Not much between you.
July 22, 2021
The other day you were accusing people of just reacting to posts, never putting any novel point of view or constructive argument. Have you ever done what you suggest or is just insults your main forte? Shows lack of judgement and paucity of thinking I’d say. Do less, think more.
July 22, 2021
what about curtain-tweaking?
July 21, 2021
Its being reported that we are paying an additional ÂŁ50 million to the French to police their own beaches
This new inititive doesn’t turn back a single small boat mid channel
July 21, 2021
I blame the English people for this immigration crisis. It has been apparent for a long time that these immigrants are never deported, so the obvious conclusion is that Con/Lab/Lib want them here. germany and all other EU countries deport tens of thousands of immigrants each year, all within EU rules, so why not here. The only solution is for a new political party, but the English people are now so diluted by foreigners in their midst, that they will be overuled.
July 21, 2021
The solutions have been very simple, yet so seemingly difficult for this clueless Government. (Speaking as a usually Conservative supporter).
The biggest draw to migrants illegally entering this country is the Welfare system and the ‘free’ NHS.
If was made crystal clear that ‘no recourse to public funds, or services’ meant just that, I highly suspect the numbers would reduce to a trickle.
It is also not right that:
A) Some people (legal migrants) have to jump through various hoops to gain entry to the UK. However, arrive on a dinghy and you are waved through.
B) In these Covid ravaged times, why has it been right that legal migration has been subjected to quarantine. Yet illegal migration hasn’t been? Totally double standards.
No wonder people are getting highly fed up.
Too much talk, double standards and too little action.
July 21, 2021
OFF TOPIC.
Liverpool has been stripped of its World Heritage status after a UN committee found developments threatened the value of the city’s waterfront.
The decision was made following a secret ballot by the Unesco committee at a meeting in China. Liverpool was awarded the much-coveted title in 2004 in recognition of its historical and architectural impact, joining places including the Taj Mahal, Egypt’s Pyramids and Canterbury Cathedral. It recognised the city’s history as a major trading centre during the British Empire and its architectural landmarks.
Liverpool becomes only the third site to lose its World Heritage status since the list began in 1978, the other two being Oman’s Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in 2007 and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany in 2009. Announcing the decision on Wednesday, committee chairman Tian Xuejun said 20 votes had been cast – with 13 in favour of deleting the city, five against the proposal and two ballot papers being invalid.
So at a secret meeting, held in China, with a Chinese Chairman, without a visit in the last 10 years, a strange decision.
July 21, 2021
Yes, there’s a world out there.
And Unesco did give their opinion on the plans, that if the development went ahead then loss of World Heritage status would probably follow.
It did.
July 22, 2021
Plans Martin, just plans. It hasn’t come to pass yet, a bit presumptive?
July 22, 2021
Yes, I suppose they could just be land-banking, not intending to develop, having got planning consent.
July 23, 2021
Or planning to convert a derelict bombed dump near the waterfront into a spectacular modern stadium? Clearly ruining the existing World Heritage status!
July 21, 2021
Good – now lets scrape the UNesco as it doesn’t achieve anything and is a complete waste of UK taxpayers money
July 22, 2021
glen, I’d not heard of this organisation before this Liverpool decision. “The United Kingdom withdrew from UNESCO on. 31 December 1985 and resumed its membership on 1 July 1997.”
UK funding is at ÂŁ15m a year of which 98% is the assessed contribution. They claim the UK benefits x 6 more? Not sure if this is by the direct grant? Or by tourism that they claim, we wouldn’t get without status.
July 21, 2021
I find it hard to believe that in this day of drones and other methods of technological surveillance, our border force cannot find and deter these boats from entering UK waters.
It would be better to deal with the problem at sea because history has shown that once these illegal migrants land on our shores, they are here to stay.
July 21, 2021
Sir John – the same ole, same ole rhetoric that is repeated by the Government and the HoC to create an illusion of action. It is what is meant by ‘virtue signalling’ – be on message do nothing.
July 21, 2021
The devil will be in the detail.
Illegal arrivals must be immediately transported to a third country (Rwanda ?) for processing without interference by left wing lawyers. The people trafficers will then have no customers.
Anybody who does arrive here illegally and is in any way classed as an economic migrant will have no chance whatsoever of gaining access to the UK, irrespective of circumstances. ( That should including those who have family members resident here ).
Given the attitude adopted by France, nothing else will work.
July 21, 2021
What do you think that Rwanda might have to say?
Are you all right?
July 22, 2021
I would guess that Denmark and the UK have already spoken to them about that, although it is of course a non starter for legal reasons here unless they repeal all the human rights stuff. Why don’t you tell us what Rwanda would say, as you seem to be the expert?
July 22, 2021
Graham, didn’t you realise MIC is an expert on everything?
July 22, 2021
other barrack-room lawyers are available.
July 21, 2021
An illegal act is still an illegal act. By default that makes those forcing their way in criminals, they steal places meant for the persecuted, they steel kindness and compassion from those that flee for their lives. They fund people trafficking. For all their seeming innocence they are part of the criminal underworld that the law abiding are having to pay and support.
Does the UK really want to be financing and supporting human trafficking. Does the UK want to import other countries criminals – that’s exactly what illegals are.
Sir John in your reporting it seemed to be suggesting that there are different categories of criminal activity, a bit like the old adage ‘a little bit pregnant’
If things according to the World Order are correct fleeing the EU/France/mainland Europe is not something that would be happening if they were really the Utopian bastions of civilized society they are cracked up to be.
July 21, 2021
This statement just proves that the government is living in cloud cukoo land. So they are proud that, over the last 6 years, 25,000 people, plus 29,000 dependants have been allowed to come and settle here? That’s 9,000 a year, adding to the population which is already FAR TOO HIGH. Can’t the morons in government grasp that the UK is GROSSLY overcrowded?! A comfortable population for the UK is no more than aroung 50-55 million. That’s it. Anythiing over that is TOO MANY. We are now at 70 million (including those here illegally, which a few years ago were estimated independently at around 2 million)! We are suffocating! No wonder house pices are beyond the reach of so many, and we are building over our green fields and on floodplains. No wonder all our roads are always so congested. No wonder it is so hard to find a school, or GP, or dentist. We need to CUT the population, not increase it. Britain is becoming such an unpleasant place to live simply because it is so overcrowded everywhere you go. I do not want us to accept a single asylum seeker. NOT ONE. We are just too full already.
And the problem is that the government go on about our “international obligations”. NO – we need to resile from ALL these obligations and say that BRITAIN IS FULL. If anyone does not agree then have the honesty to say what, precisely, is the maximum number of people that can live on this small island. Give me an actual number. Or do they believe there is literally no limit at all? We must deport EVERY asylum seeker. Most do not even qualify for asylum anyway, which is why they are NOT granted ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain) but are given ELR (Exceptional Leave to Remain) instead – because they do not fit the criteria of someone fleeing persecution, and so an exception has to be made to allow them to stay. Most are simply fleeing poverty or war – but imagine what would have happened if all young British males had fled in 1940. No – these people have a DUTY to their country to stay and FIGHT. Just as our fathers did in 1940.
July 21, 2021
Decisions made by managers at the DVLA driving licence body have meant a “catastrophic” processing backlog of 1.4 million cases, a union says. Mark Serwotka, head of the Public and Commercial Services union, said if staff were allowed to work from home the backlog could be reduced.
He told Transport Committee MPs other members of the civil service “were tearing their hair out” at the DVLA. He said it is a “stain” on the reputation of the civil service.
Mr Serwotka said the DVLA are “refusing to engage in a proper discussion.”
“In 21 years (in this role), I have never encountered the level of incompetence and mismanagement that is on display at the DVLA in Swansea,” Mr Serwotka told the MPs on Wednesday.
“The tragedy of that is not just that public are suffering. Our members many of whom are quite lowly paid and very stressed at work are bearing the brunt of this.”
Mr Serwotka said there had been 643 Covid cases and one fatality at the DVLA during the course of the pandemic and that there are serious risks to staff’s health and safety because of its actions.
‘I have never encountered the level of incompetence and mismanagement ‘ – – clearly never been to the NHS.
July 21, 2021
The electorate and the government know the way to stop illegal migration and it is to do as the Australians did so successfully.
It is never to allow entry into the UK and to confine the migrants in holding camps until processed and deported. Not to put them up in 4 star hotels, not give them pocket money and not allow them to roam the streets.
Our government is not protecting us either economically or from sleeping terrorists and is making the mistake that just because Labour are even worse on this issue they will not face the publicâs ire through the ballot box.
They should remember that the Brexit Party came from no-where to win the 2019 European Parliamentary elections.
July 21, 2021
Yes, the Australians most recent notable expulsion is bang-on.
July 22, 2021
Mic
For once I agree with you.
The rules were broken, and they took appropriate action !
Shame you do not condone us doing the same.
July 22, 2021
The legal position of Australia’a boat people under international law is quite different from people claiming asylum from places such as Iraq and Libya – which the UK helped to turn into the utter hellholes that they now are.
July 22, 2021
No it isnt.
All applying for asylum come under similar rules of application.
July 22, 2021
They weren’t validly claiming asylum.
July 23, 2021
Some who apply are rejected in all countries.
July 21, 2021
Off topic, it seems that’s deja vu all over again, again; from January 17 2019:
https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/01/17/sterling-strengthens/#comment-989138
“Today the FT front page headline runs:
âMay starts search for Brexit ideas after narrow confidence vote winâ
Itâs deja vu all over again, as they say, because on May 10th 2018 the FT ran this:
https://www.ft.com/content/4e3d830a-52dc-11e8-b24e-cad6aa67e23e
âLand of fairytale castles offers Brexit inspirationâ
with the sub-heading:
âUK looks to Liechtenstein in search of creative solutions to EU trade conundrumâ
âBritain is exploring its system of âparallel marketabilityâ, a legal fix agreed by the EU in 1995 that allowed Liechtenstein to straddle two distinct economic spaces with conflicting standards on goods.
One senior Whitehall official described it as âa very interesting ideaâ, with relevance to the effort to avoid a hard Northern Ireland border. âIt is a good answer in theory,â said the official. âWe need to look at how it would work in practice.ââ
But I donât suppose the âsenior Whitehall officialâ was Olly Robbins, instead he came up with a potty âcustoms partnershipâ scheme, which mutated into the Chequers proposals and then evolved into the equally potty âdealâ that Theresa May agreed.”
And now I don’t suppose that the EU will agree that goods meeting either EU standards or UK standards can be allowed to circulate within Northern Ireland even if our respective standards diverge, it would have to be a unilateral decision by the UK government and Parliament in defiance of the EU.
July 21, 2021
I could understand in the 18th, 19th and the early 20th century the need for MPs and school children to schedule a summer recess to return to their lands to gather the harvestâŚbut in the early 21st century is there any justification for a summer recess
July 21, 2021
I wonder if the MPs will do anything about illegal immigration soon – hell no, there all on holiday for the next 6 weeks
July 22, 2021
Glen
+1
Exactly, why does Parliament and the Government shut down (go into recess), it does not happen in the commercial world as that would be nuts !
July 21, 2021
Off topic, but linked.
It is being reported the EU has rejected what has been said by us about the failings if the NI protocol.
I bet ‘Boris’ is now desperately working out what he can concede on all that. Suspect he will cave in and run away, in effect betraying everyone in the UK. Will any Tory MPs resign?
Gibraltar will be next.
July 22, 2021
Gibraltar already under discussion/aegument.
Looks like the Spanish are going to police the borders.
So far the Eu have threatened Northern Ireland, Gibraltar and Jersey, I wonder who is next.!
July 22, 2021
Well – it is estimated that 20,000 Spanish live permanently in Gib, and 9,000 cross daily for work in Gib.
If it gets stopped perhaps we can ferry all these illegals arriving on our shores to Gib for work?
July 21, 2021
We know where the illegal immigrants have come from, France knows where the illegal immigrants have come fromâŚ..shouldnât we make a bilateral arrangement to send these illegal immigrants back immediately the same day or threaten to or just do it unilaterally
There is absolutely no ambiguity the illegal immigrants arriving on our shores have come from France
July 21, 2021
We have taken in far too many immigrants – the consequent shortage and high price of housing means that UK citizens are paying the price – immigrants do not bring land and housing with them.
I hope this new bill is actually used and acted upon.
Why do border force and RNLI boats shuttling illegal immigrants to this country – why don’t they take them back to France – the skippers of these boats should be facing charges of facilitating illegal immigration -why aren’t they? And why are we paying France when it escorts illegals to our country ?
July 21, 2021
Some few comments for the Home Secretary’s attention on the Government’s statement were all I could manage before becoming too annoyed to continue reading such disingenuous tosh. These were: –
If we âContinue to resettle genuine refugees âŚâ how many will that be? Eligibility could easily be measured in billions. Why does the U.K. want to resettle â…more than any other
country in Europe â?
Why do we opt only to âDeter illegal entry into the UK âŚâ? How about stopping it instead or will the flotilla of small boats be unending?
âRemoving from the UK those with no right to be hereâ has been a feature of the rules for years â and has been typically unenforced. Just discard this lie to avoid engendering disappointment please.
âContinue to offer refugee family reunion âŚâ – yes, a clear message: arrive illegally but your family follows with full blessings from the authorities.
âUnaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children âŚâ – yes make provision for them, for are they not clients of people smugglers too and so to be encouraged? Do their families follow under the reunion scheme?
âImprove support for refugees to help them build their life in the UK ..â – commendable, and we could all do with some of that thanks chum.
â..a new temporary protection status ..â so we can be sure of extending a warm official welcome to those who travel through safe country after safe country and/or omit to claim asylum until they consider it advantages them to do so.
July 21, 2021
No mention of enforcing International Law that dictates asylum seekers must claim at the first safe country they reach? Or is it now felt in Government circles that EU members are no longer safe Nations?
July 21, 2021
International law does NOT state that.
July 22, 2021
No, amazingly, apparently it does not but it is about time it did, for we are being ripped off by a Law/Convention that fails the people of Britain. After all, it is we who have to pay not the likes of France et al. Somewhere down the line, the true English/Scottish/Welsh population of this country will be so diluted there will be no such nationality. That cannot be a good thing to carry out this, a soft form of genocide? Can you see any Country in the East tolerating or even working towards such an event?
July 22, 2021
you should apply for a job with the Home Office. A perfect fit.
July 21, 2021
A large pool of undocumented residents in a country is a very dangerous thing. This is where things like vaccine hesitancy begins, because people who are living outside the normal rules will do anything to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities.
But that’s only where it begins. Next you get “informal” employment with all the opportunities for employer abuse and exploitation that presents. Then you get informal housing, with abusive landlords taking advantage of their tenants’ inability to use the justice system, gangs conscripting young undocumented males, and you get the immigrants themselves gradually setting up states within the state, children who never attend school.
This isn’t about hostility to immigrants, but about avoiding horrible social and legal problems in a decade’s time.
July 21, 2021
So –
ÂŁ114M in bribes to the French since 2015. “If you want us to stop dumping illegals on your shores you have to pay us money”
British Border Force vessel ordered to France to ‘collect’ migrants. WALL OF SILENCE AS TO WHOMEVER GAVE THAT ORDER !……NOT GOOD ENOUGH JOHNSON !
French naval vessel ‘allowed’ to navigate British territorial waters to safely deliver migrants.
AND NOW !…..another ÂŁ54M !
Does anyone ( other than migrants and the French government ) seriously believe a single word that comes from the mouths of Patel & Johnson ?
Pair of rotten lying shysters !
July 22, 2021
Shyster meaning:- is a slang word for someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law, sometimes also politics or business.
July 21, 2021
This government has ‘shallitis’. ‘We shall’, ‘we shall’ – but they never do. More millions handed over to France to ‘handles the problem’ – and the money falls into a bottomless piggy-bank, without any effective action being taken.
Meanwhile, hundreds of bogus refugees continue to arrive each week from a safe country where they could have applied for asylum, but didn’t, because we are the softer touch.
July 21, 2021
âThe terrace of the Stade hotel, on the seafront in Hythe, is festooned by England flags. But its usual summer guests have been told their holidays there are cancelled. The hotel’s owner says it has been block booked for 68 days by the Home Office – at an irresistible price to him of ÂŁ5,000 a day.
The occupants are young men who tell us – from their balconies – that they are 16 or 17 and from Iran. One has been there 11 days and they aren’t allowed to leave their rooms.â – BBC
ÂŁ5000 a day x 68 = ÂŁ340,000. Sorry, but the time for empty words – or passing more and more laws to be ignored, as heretofore – has passed. What we want to see now is action.
July 21, 2021
NHS to get 3% pay rise while the whole of the private sector will get 0% and be lucky to be in work !
July 22, 2021
seems reasonable for those who worked, not so for those who enjoyed reasons to stay home for months and months.
July 21, 2021
More words.More years. No proper enforcement or action, the laws are not fit for purpose or enforced as judges overule them. The solution is obvious .
Are parliament able to copy?
All we see is evidence of collusion and facilitation of this irregular invasion of the UK, despite the virtue signalling. Create the problem then rule by divide and conquer? Similar strategy in play on all main borders?
There is no mandate for the government facilitating this invasion. Close the door. Internment until deportation to offshore processing. Start unwinding the EU laws ? BINO & NIP to do this. You had a 80 majority and passed the BINO & NIP.
Explain:
Which taxes are going to rise,.which services are you going to deny to people who have paid taxes all their lives,which products and services will be rationed or taxpayers be priced out of to mitigate these imported future emissions?
Who will injured or be directly negatively impacted by this unplanned , irregular invasion of mainly men.
Who benefits apart from the immigrant. The UK is diverse enough and does not need extra people.
Tell me again why we voted for BREXIT. To take control of our laws, border & taxes? Except when the establishment thinks different. Perhaps we need a democratic binding referendum to help them decide.
July 21, 2021
Off topic, but has anyone else bothered to read the Government’s Command Paper on the NIP issued this morning?
It is a very comprehensive account of the UK’s position on the NIP. including a statement that we have reached a situation where A16 could be invoked.
If you are happy with all the “I suppose” and “I’ve heard’ that we get in comments here, that’s fine, but if you want to know what’s really going on, instead of empty froth and agitated speculation, this is a very good read.
July 22, 2021
Yes, but I also heard that the UK government is not going to take unilateral action, so just more hot air and kowtowing. We are still running scared of the EU and will not even retaliate by making their imports here difficult, same as they are doing. Yesterday, a supermarket CEO said one of his full trucks was refused entry because one page of the multi page customs declaration was in blue ink instead of the EU required black. He further stated that trucks are being delayed up to 48 hours, ruining the goods and that he is de-listing for NI many Christmas products. So hard luck Northern Irelanders, our government cares more about the EU than they do about you, our kin. And we allow this, foreigners ruling in our own country. Pathetic, gutless. Churchill, Boris ain’t. No-one in the Tory party gives a damn. No one will tell him to pack his bags. Where is Sir Graham Brady? Wasting his time having pints on telly with Farage and doing precisely nothing at all.
July 21, 2021
I don’t know about everyone else reading this post but I am seething st the utter incompetence of this government and the other two so called political parties ( God help us) and their pathetic attempts to stop this nonsense. The money that is being thrown at this problem is unbelievable. We have so much debt and so many issues at home to sort out but we are spending like money is going out of fashion. For God’s sake John, something has to change. There is nothing positive to report on regarding politics in this country. A new party with a different mindset is urgently needed.
July 21, 2021
Criminal offences
Confusingly, a person can be correctly classified as an illegal entrant without being guilty of the offence of illegal entry. A migrant arriving on a dinghy is guilty of an offence under section 24 of the Act if he âknowingly enters the UK ⌠without leaveâ. The prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant knew he required leave.
The offence is only committed if the migrant actually enters the UK i.e. not by those who are intercepted by the authorities before they reach land.
If you can stomach it read the summary.
Source levins solicitors: dinghies-in-the-channel-illegal-entrants-and-immigration-offences
July 22, 2021
We are not going to cure the problem of illegal immigration by paying money to France. France doesn’t want them either. Besides, France is causing UK exporters a lot of money by imposing time wasting bureaucratic controls. It is a hostile nation.
The measures that will control immigration are:
– Creation of a huge internment camp on a Hebridean island for all illegal immigrants. There they stay until they say from which country they originate, whose citizens they are.
– Remove the legal profession from decisions as to whether would be immigrants are fleeing from terror or are economic migrants (it is possible to be both). These should be executive decisions of the Home Secretary.
– Announce that the UK will henceforth have zero population growth.
We must face up to the fact that some nations don’t have the intelligence to govern themselves well. Try to explain what is happening in South Africa on any other basis. We should offer to assist by lending administrators.
July 22, 2021
Since the UK has left the European Union, there is no moral, legal or other reason why the relationship between the UK and France over this matter is anything more than client-contractor.
That is, the latter will negotiate the most for the least – and they don’t seem to be up against much competition, do they?
You voted for that.
It is, actually, very funny.
July 22, 2021
Client-contractor eh? Normally when you pay money for something you get it. France is a fraud and the fact that you find it funny says more about you than even your bonkers posts. Why do you never support the UK? Why are you even here?
July 22, 2021
It still happened when we were in the EU MiC
July 22, 2021
But then you and Andy like laughing like a couple of schoolboys don’t you? Especially over the demise of your own country. The sick bucket isn’t big enough for you two.
July 22, 2021
My approach doesn’t need the co-operation of France. A bigger question for you: should the UK try to engineer the break up of the European Union? There are weaknesses that we could exploit.
July 22, 2021
I imagine not, but your “approach” would no doubt get its enactors up before the Hague, and rightly so.
Your second question is rather odd. It is the UK on the verge of disintegration, not the European Union, and entirely because of fanatical europhobia among the Tories rather than anything that the second tried to do.
July 24, 2021
LMcD, Ooh, a long-term strategistâŚ
ec.europa.eu 20/04/2021 âEurobarometer: La confiance dans lâUnion Europeenne sâest accrue sâest accrue depuis lâete dernierâ (Trust in EU has rasised since last summer).
And then just for you to chew on: âUK government orders councils display EU flag as condition of Covid relief cashâ, independent.co.uk, Jon Stone, 24 July 2021.
Are you yet another armchair general (retired)?