The European Court of Human Rights and small boats

There is speculation that some members of the Cabinet are wanting to put repeal of our Ā membership of the European Human Rights Treaty into the Manifesto if there are further legal reversals to the policy of transferring illegal migrants elsewhere.

That would mean accepting legal defeat for more than a year and then needing an election win and a new Parliament to resolve the small boats impasse. That seems like a bad idea.

The Prime Minister has been categoric and consistent that he will stop the small boats. It is one of five key pledges. It is therefore imperative Ā to resolve any legal obstacles to his chosen anti illegal migration policy now, not at Ā some distant future time.

I and others have proposed a simple one clause Bill or amendment to an existing Bill which would confirm current government policy on illegals and say in terms that this applied notwithstanding any other legal arguments or ECHR judgements. Parliament is sovereign and on this should assert its sovereignty.

The Uk was previously told to grant votes to prisoners by the ECHR. Parliament said No to that. We stayed Ā with the Treaty but disapplied that judgement democratically. We can do so again. Get on with it to stop so many Ā boats coming thus summer.

195 Comments

  1. Peter
    August 11, 2023

    What is in a manifesto does not matter. Voters want to see effective action not more promises or empty words.

    I suspect the government will let the small boats continue to arrive rather than upset the Davos crowd.

    1. Everhopeful
      August 11, 2023

      +++
      Or they will find some ooky accounting way of PRETENDING they have stopped them.
      Sunak needs to (re?) establish trust if at all possible.
      Of course most normal people would vote for him over the opposition.
      However, for some strange reason people seem to think that by voting for Labour they would be punishing the Tories.
      Rather than realising that they would be subjecting themselves to a fate EVEN WORSE than these fake conservatives!

      1. Donna
        August 11, 2023

        Well he’s reducing the massive backlog of asylum seekers by fast-tracking applications and effectively declaring an amnesty.

        But when a Government Minister says that the backlog is reducing, no journalist in the MSM ever asks the obvious follow-up: “How many were granted and how many refused and deported?

        1. MFD
          August 11, 2023

          I can answer that Donna. All granted and non deported , we still have a gathering of the eastern army and we still have pm and ministers spouting hot air and NO action.
          All the politicians of both parties do not care about we Brits!
          They do as they are told by our WEF enemies.

          1. Hope
            August 12, 2023

            It is not just illegal i migration is it. It is also the 1.2 million low levelled welfare claimants being imported each year. JRā€™s party promised the exact opposite for 14 years. Remember tens of thousands! Of the 1.2 million less than 3,000 have golden visas ie skills that our country wants. Lies lies lies just to get elected from JRs party. Having read the comments here no one is convinced or trusts JRs party with immigration, economy, Brexit or the most basic issue standing up for our country for the people of this country!

            I am not sure why JR has raised this issue knowing that his party betrayed the nation on it?

        2. Everhopeful
          August 11, 2023

          Exactly!

        3. Fedupsouthener
          August 11, 2023

          How can you process 750 that came yesterday? It will be the same on other fine days. So many came yesterday that they would be too many for the barge. The barge is another fiasco. Perhaps if those coming here in ‘ such dire straits’ had papers it would make the process of assessing them quicker. If they are the type of men that leave their women folk behind in war torn countries (I think not) then they are not the type of men we want or need here. Rishi needs to get his act together and quick before we are the minority in all towns and cities.

          1. Berkshire Alan
            August 11, 2023

            FUS
            They are all off the barge due to alleged contaminated water, difficult to make it all up really, nothing absolutely nothing seems to be able to be put in place and completed properly by this Government, incompetence all round.

          2. glen cullen
            August 11, 2023

            There’s now more illegal immigrant criminals than the size of the whole army

          3. Cheshire Girl
            August 12, 2023

            OR, before there is trouble on the Streets. The law abiding taxpayers of this Country, can only be pushed so far. .

          4. APL
            August 14, 2023

            Cheshire Girl: “The law abiding taxpayers of this Country, can only be pushed so far. .”

            Really, at this stage of the decline, what law?

      2. Mickey Taking
        August 11, 2023

        I don’t come across anybody intending to vote Labour, what I do hear all the time is frustration at an all-time high with the Conservative Governments. By withholding support the message couldn’t be clearer. Successive Governments have moved further and further away from what supporters expected to see take place.
        If it were to be Labour, Lib-Dems or Reform etc – so be it.

        1. ChrisS
          August 11, 2023

          We obviously move in similar circles, MT !
          I meet very few people who would consider voting Labour, but they will only vote Conservative with a very heavy heart. If there was a viable alternative party adopting real Conservative policies, they would vote for it in droves, as would I.
          Under our FPTP system, the only solution is for MPs typified by our host to seize back the party and take it in the Right direction. But in these days where it seems that anyone over the age of 50 is considered too old to lead the Conservatives. But is there anyone on the back benches that could do the job ?
          Penny Maudaunt could possibly, but I struggle to think of anyone else who could other than Ben Wallace, but at 53 he has had enough.

          1. Jim+Whitehead
            August 11, 2023

            Mordaunt has shown her colours and sheā€™s another (of many) Tories against whom I would relish the chance to vote against.
            Her Despatch Box speeches against Andrew Bridgen were boiler-plate clap-trap examples of the currently contemptible and unelectable Non-Conservative party.

          2. Fedupsouthener
            August 11, 2023

            Do most of our MPs give a jot about the UK? If they did they would do with the majority of voters are crying out for. Take control of our borders.

        2. Lifelogic
          August 11, 2023

          I meet people intending to vote Labour but almost no one intending to vote Conservative certainly under Sunak. Most realise Labour/SNP/Libdims will be even worse but cannot bring themselves to put the Tories back in after their total betrayal. Government spending nearly 50% of GDP and yet delivering appalling and still declining public services, net zero lunacy, road blocking, refusing to look into the vast vaccine caused injuries and deaths, the do nothing if possible woke police, open door migration, the housing disaster (Socialist Gove)ā€¦

          1. Everhopeful
            August 11, 2023

            +++
            Exactly what I am hearing.
            And it is said that TB is trying to pull strings in the Labour Party. Or maybe he has succeeded.
            There are also rumours of more jabs and plandemics.
            What a terrible situation.
            May we be delivered and preserved from these evils.

          2. Fedupsouthener
            August 11, 2023

            You are right LL. I wont go so far as to vote Labour but I’m not voting Conservative unless some radical changes take place. I would rather spoil my ballot paper.

        3. Everhopeful
          August 11, 2023

          Well your experience is not likely to be exactly the same as mine, is it?
          But I can assure you that there are those who think Labour will save them.

          1. Mickey Taking
            August 11, 2023

            save from what? – next vaccine death, bankruptcy, eviction, sharing home with non-English family, Eton majority Cabinet, British Rail break -up, forced wilding in your garden, no council refuse disposal, armed forces all made redundant during next Government 5 years?

      3. Hope
        August 11, 2023

        What utter rubbish JR. We had Cameron, May and Johnson all say they would get rid of ECHR and then did nothing! Same for British bill of human rights. Scrapped after Raab left. Stop trying to con us, 14 years of making false promises and deliberately fail to deliver.

        Sunak promised to deliver 2019 manifesto and promised to serve with integrity! He sold the nation out with his betrayal of the Windsor sell out! He sacked 5 of his own MPs in case they voted the wrong way! His five pledges mean diddly squat! We never voted or asked for them. The economic mess is his making, not ours. Lord Agnew resigned because of his wasteful school boy errors as chancellor. Instead of resigning himself for giving away Ā£12 billion without due diligence, something he should have learned from Goldman Sachs!, he put himself up for PM, was rejected then your MPs installed him against the wishes of the public and memebership!

        Good grief man at least be honest with us. You are making token gestures for votes nothing more. You know your party and four govt record on the matter.

      4. John Hatfield
        August 11, 2023

        Why on earth would anyone vote Labour or Tory or Libdem?

        1. Fedupsouthener
          August 11, 2023

          Exactly Mr Hatfield

    2. Cynic
      August 11, 2023

      +1@ PETER. We have had enough empty promises. We have also been lied to over the pandemic. There is not much trust left in this government. We need actions – not words!

      1. turboterrier
        August 11, 2023

        M T
        That is the conundrum.
        If they did get back in by some miracle would they change?
        Not a snowball in hells chance.
        They have not got the right calibre of people in the chamber. True blue real Conservatives. All I seem to remember of the last decade loads of talk and no action. We are just not good enough to govern.

    3. Ian+wragg
      August 11, 2023

      After 14 years in power ans the population increased by 10 million, not a single manifesto pledge honoured, no one believes ant more.
      Click bait for votes are all manifestos are designed for.
      I’m afraid the UK population has been lied too for long enough. Everyone knows you’ll never pulls out of the ECHR because they act as a shield for your nonsense.
      Fool me once etc etc.

      1. glen cullen
        August 11, 2023

        The next Tory manifesto will be a one liner
        ”You’ll be worse under a labour government”

        Sorry but thats not good enough, constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil

        1. Mickey Taking
          August 11, 2023

          a short death or a slower one?

    4. Lifelogic
      August 11, 2023

      Exactly look, at all the promises in the Tories last few manifestos that have not been delivered indeed have any? IHT thresholds of Ā£1m were promised by Osborne about 15 years ago they are still Ā£325k & now with inflation worth more like Ā£200k in real terms. Nothing that the Tories put in their manifesto will be remotely believed and rightly so.

      Doubtless it will as usual promise lower taxes and better public services but their record is the complete opposite for 13 years so far. Labour of course will be even worse all very depressing for the UK.

      A relative, now a first year junior doctor, is choosing not to strike but his salary of circa Ā£34k including London waiting is simply not enough to live on in London. After rent for a room in a shared flat, commuting costs, student loan interest (six years at Uni), tax, NI, council tax, lunches, prof. fees he actually has negative disposable income for food, heat, light, funā€¦ His effective hourly rate is about half that a london cleaner can earn. So is it any wonder they have trouble retaining medical staff. Can you not do sumā€™s Steve Barclay? Surely after six years at universities in a hard job they should be paid enough to actually live on without ending the year poorer off than they started Mr Barclay?

      His same age flat mate after only three years at uni (Economics so half the debt) works at a US bank on Ā£105k and has earned three years salary already. The doctors effective hourly rates is about half what cleaners can earn in London and they will not have up to Ā£150k of student debt!

      1. Lifelogic
        August 11, 2023

        Even a 35% increase would only just give him enough to live on and that would not include holidays or anything much beyond rent, students loan interest, tax, NI, council tax, heat, light, food, commuting and normal living costs.

        Get real Barclay you need to retain medical staff and stop ripping them off. Fire the useless managers start with the useless CEO and all the overpaid diversity officers and sustainability staff. Waiting lists now 7.6 million and that is under reported.

        1. turboterrier
          August 11, 2023

          L L
          Image a world in the NHS with no waste whatsoever?
          The staff would be in a much stronger position. Drain the swamp from within, the catalyst has got to be the existing staff on the ward floors not overpaid, over valued, over rated people in executive, higher and middle management.
          Waste in every sector of government, civil and public services has never been addressed and never will be.

    5. Sharon
      August 11, 2023

      Peter
      The Davos bunch really don’t like Brexit or Trump do they?

      Illegals immigrants, Wokism, Net Zero, Critical Race etc all arrived during Lockdown around the time Britain left the EU. This can’t be a coincidence, can it?

      1. Peter
        August 11, 2023

        Sharon,

        No, but pleasing the Davos crowd is seen as a path to wealth and international recognition – The Tony Blair template. Conviction politicians, of any persuasion, are few and far between these days.

    6. Lifelogic
      August 11, 2023

      Indeed we should have left the ECHR many years back the time for action has passed years ago. Sunakā€™s hot air is worthless he is heading for fewer that 100 Tory MPs. We should also have nothing to do with the appalling WHA and their evil power grab agenda. Sunak is not remotely the person to lead the Tories. His past interests in Moderna will not help either as the vast vaccine net harm become ever more apparent.

      He is largely the cause of the current inflation and economic mess. Growth in GDP of 0.2% reported today it seems, so a decline in PPP per cap terms. Well done the Tories, declining living standards, much higher taxes, a bonkers energy policy, everything about Covid mishandled, ever more red tape, vast government waste and declining public services for 13+ years.

      1. Fedupsouthener
        August 11, 2023

        Great post LL.

    7. Timaction
      August 11, 2023

      Stop them on route or return them the same day via the tunnel to France. Problem solved. France has allowed insecure borders and is passing their problem to us. Its time for proper action not talk.

    8. George Norfby
      August 11, 2023

      The exhortations of The Sun and The Express to “vote Conservative to keep Labour out” are not working this time.
      Here in the outside world people have given up on the Tories. They will be reduced to tens of MPs and will never be in office again and not even in a coalition.

    9. British Patriot
      August 11, 2023

      If they fail to disapply all the obstructions to effective action NOW (and that means the HRA, the ECHR, the Modern Slavery Act and the Refugee Convention) then I simply WILL NOT TRUST any manifesto pledges they might make.

      1. Lifelogic
        August 12, 2023

        Indeed who would ever trust any promises they Tories make? We still have IHT thresholds at Ā£325k (now worth circa Ā£200k in real terms) not the Ā£1 million threshold promised about 15 years back by Osborne.

    10. mancunius
      August 11, 2023

      And yesterday (Thursday 1th August) saw 755 illegals arrive in dinghies – the highest daily total so far. While the total of a mere 39 asylum applicants on the barge have today been taken off again.
      It seems the Tories do not want just to lose the election, but to be entirely obliterated as a party so that Labour can use a large Commons majority and Lords consensus to rejoin the EU.

      1. Lifelogic
        August 12, 2023

        Seems so. Sunak is even failing on all his, rather pathetic, five pledges.

  2. Mark B
    August 11, 2023

    Good morning.

    Let us be clear. Everything governments of the recent past, and I am talking from 1997 to present, has been to increase the population of the UK. The reason are many, but increase it they ALL have. They have signed into law various treaties and agreements to enable almost unfettered immigration.

    We have on the Statute numerous laws concerning illegal entry into the UK. Presently the UK Government, in collusion with the French Government, are enabling the movement of illegals into to the UK. This is done by allowing organisations, some government backed, to assist those who wish to enter the UK. This is done by giving them information and assistance on how to get here and how to remain here.

    The UK Government through its agency, Border Force, intercepts boats that have been escorted by the French Coast Guard to our side of the English Channel, then transports them onto English soil whereby, they are given FREE accommodation, money, healthcare and legal advice. None of which is provided to those legally residing here in the UK but living on the streets.

    The solutions to this issue, which has accelerated since 2018 (more of that later)*šŸ˜‰, are simple and have been covered here many times. They do not involve creating or repealing any laws. They do not involve grand and pointless schemes such as Rwanda, designed to give the impression of something being done when they, the government, know nothing will be done because the lawyers, charities and NGO’s they fund are going to stop them. No ! The solution is to allow the to land. Arrest them for illegal entry and, if found guilty, send them back to France. If the French do not want them, then send them to a holding centre on a remote Scottish Island. No need for wire fences etc. When they realise that their efforts are in vain, it will stop.

    * The reason why the illegals have been coming on mass since 2018 has much to do with the PM at the time and the agreements that she got past parliament without any formal scrutiny.

    And what a NASTY WOMAN SHE IS

    1. dangernan
      August 11, 2023

      I think the suggestion of an uninhabited remote Scottish Island might be the answer – mind them them like we would POW’s in wartime – give them the basics including field tents until this is sorted – word will soon go out

      1. Mickey Taking
        August 11, 2023

        they all seem to arrive with working latest smart phones!

      2. turboterrier
        August 11, 2023

        dangernan
        + many

    2. BOF
      August 11, 2023

      Agreed, Mark B.

      1. Fedupsouthener
        August 11, 2023

        I agree too with Mark B

  3. Everhopeful
    August 11, 2023

    I do hope that govt. does not merely fiddle the figures to make it appear that the boats have been stopped.
    Conveniently ā€œlosingā€ thousands who would then disappear into the (no doubt thriving) unregulated, underworld.

    1. Berkshire Alan
      August 11, 2023

      Everhopeful
      They will grant them all permission to stay, or give them an amnesty, that way they will have killed the backlog, but encouraged more to arrive, by which time it will be someone else’s problem.
      Thus crime will have proven to have paid, and Sunak can say he has cleared the backlog.
      Perhaps that would be a political success in his eyes and the eyes of many politicians, but certainly would not be in the eyes of the population.

    2. Hope
      August 11, 2023

      The back log being addressed by giving them all visas instead of deporting the rabble back to the safe country they came from. There should be No vetting process if they travelled by boats. Cameron cost us a fortune by putting up camps in Syria. We had all these token mad hatter cons. No more. Deport without any checks whatsoever. They could pose a danger to our country and should be got rid of ASAP. We had two bombing tragedies from these sort of people, no more. If they come by boat from France deport without any question.

      Has Sunak the brains to work out he has wasted hundreds of millions giving away to France for an increase in number! More school boy errors, or does not give a shit? If not for Farage this would not be an issue. Why do we need mass immigration of 1.2 million low skilled welfare claimants each year? No housing problem, just mass immigration from Tories who repeatedly promised the opposite in 14 years of manifesto and campaigns. Liars.

      1. Margaret
        August 11, 2023

        It’s so inhuman that you call people rabble.We in this country have certain standards which certainly are deteriorating, but just think what families are doing to attempt protection.I would do anything I could to save my family,yet the other side of the coin is that we are overcrowded and cannot afford anyone else but rabble No!

  4. Lynn Atkinson
    August 11, 2023

    Better still just withdraw from the ECHR, the electorate were not consulted about joining it!
    Letā€™s face it, they are hoping that by promising to be a Conservative Government we will vote for them, all the while they are proving that they are NOT a Conservative Government. Why would they do Conservative things in the next Parliament that they have refused to do in this one?

    1. Dave Andrews
      August 11, 2023

      No need to withdraw from it, just ignore like everyone else does. Does the ECHR not require France to take unaccompanied migrant children into care? So how do they end up on our shores?

    2. a-tracy
      August 11, 2023

      Following manifesto promises in your vote is useless, that’s why some like coalitions so the electorate doesn’t know what they’re going to get with stitch-up deals, and the leader can just say we had our hands tied by Sturgeon’s or Clegg’s replacement.

      Boris had 2050 in his manifesto that’s what the majority of us voted for, that was a more reasonable scale, he brought it forward to 2030. He ultimately got stabbed in the back by the current leader and his clique, frankly this Country is becoming more frightening every day, all those tourists in London this week, one stabbed waiting to get into a museum by a guy in the street with 3 knives!!! A mob terrorising and stealing from a sports store in broad daylight in front of women and children, just how many are arrested and given community service strong punishments probably NONE.

    3. glen cullen
      August 11, 2023

      Correct

    4. Hope
      August 11, 2023

      Not one precious four/ five, Cameron, Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss now Sunak.

    5. Ian B
      August 11, 2023

      @Lynn Atkinson
      If there was any part of the ECHR that was needed in the UK we have empowered our legislators and our Courts to create, amend, or repeal and uphold such Laws. So why adopt things by force and deny the UK its Democratic right to write its own destiny in a UK Context.

    6. Peter Parsons
      August 11, 2023

      The only European states who currently aren’t members of the ECHR are Belarus and Russia. Are those the countries you want the UK to be aligned with?

      1. Ian B
        August 11, 2023

        @Peter Parsons and the World?

        1. Peter Parsons
          August 11, 2023

          I appreciate that mere mention of the “E” word in ECHR brings some commentors on this site out in a rash, but maybe it’s only the UK (signatory to the Trans-Pacific Partnership) that doesn’t understand its geographical location in the world.

          Are you aware of, for example, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights or the American Convention on Human Rights?

          1. Mickey Taking
            August 11, 2023

            what about OUR human rights not to be invaded by boat-people who are simply illegal economic migrants doing it to jump a legal queue?

      2. Martin in Bristol
        August 11, 2023

        Peter
        You are carefully missing the many nations who do not allow supranational courts to rule on decisions made by their democratically elected governments.
        For example Canada New Zealand Australia USA among dozens of other independent nations.
        They have decent human rights for their people.

        1. Peter Parsons
          August 11, 2023

          The USA is a country which permits the death penalty for juveniles and recently reversed ROe vs Wade. I would hope for higher standards of human rights than that.

          All 4 countries you mention are also subject to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which is a supranational court.

          1. Martin in Bristol
            August 12, 2023

            The nations I listed have very good human rights even if you politically disagree with two areas of one nation.
            The International Court in the Hague rules on war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

  5. Bloke
    August 11, 2023

    When something is so wrong, govt should act in a fast and firm way. It should not cause the situation to grown even worse by yet further delay and doing nothing effective.

    1. Lifelogic
      August 11, 2023

      We have had 13 years of the Tory governments not only doing nothing effective but of them doing expensive things that did huge net harm like HS2, Net Zero, the lockdowns, the tax increases, the vast government waste, the net harm vaccines, the war on motorists, landlords, small businesses and the self employed, the incentives & encouragements for illegal migrants, the dire NHS structure…

    2. Mark J
      August 11, 2023

      Nothing more will be discussed by Parliament until it resits in the autumn, by then how many more 1000’s would have arrived.

      The country is falling apart and Parliament is on its’ usual extended summer holiday, they’ll be back in October, before going on another extended break over Xmas.

      If a private sector business was run like this, it would have gone under long ago.

  6. Nigl
    August 11, 2023

    Itā€™s meaningless. Conning the public into thinking action will be taken but in fact nothing will change.

    As we get closer to the election BS levels are rising.

  7. DOM
    August 11, 2023

    At present I don’t recognise a fully functioning democracy in the UK, more a nation’s people governed by authoritarian racist, woke thugs who appear to have taken control of every aspect of public life and private life

    Stop the Tories appeasing woke fascism for an easy life. If Labour gain power they will finish off this nation, a job started by them in 1997 and continued by Eton, Oxbridge Tory lowlifes

    We want our freedoms back so that we can take on the Left without fearing removal of our bank accounts or being demonised by woke lowlifes

    The Tory party must decide. You’re either with the non-woke, moral majority or with the race baiting woke scum who now control our world

    1. Mickey Taking
      August 11, 2023

      Succintly put as ever. Fundamental beliefs are being removed by stealth over these last successive Governments acting on behalf of World anarchy.

    2. Sharon
      August 11, 2023

      Hear, hear, Dom!

    3. glen cullen
      August 11, 2023

      This ‘do nothing’ tory government and backbenches are unlikely to make any decision this decade …thats not democracy, they’re failing the voters by their ‘in-action’

    4. Hope
      August 11, 2023

      It would be in the national interest to scrap Oxbridge PPE course. They all come out appearing brainwashed to promote the extreme left wing dogma. Then go on to politics, civil service, quangos, charity or BBC!

      I would vet all Oxbridge lecturers etc.

      1. Mickey Taking
        August 11, 2023

        I would vet ALL university lecturers!

    5. Ian B
      August 11, 2023

      @DOM +1

    6. Timaction
      August 11, 2023

      The all party Climate Change Committee are outside democratic control. The 5 year plans will start to cause serious harm to the poor, our economy and way of life in the very near future. This is is all already legislated under the Climate Change Act. It must go and so must the legacies who don’t care for the English people, just minority groups and issues plus anything woke. They will hide this at the next election, be warned, the Torys are complicit.

      1. glen cullen
        August 11, 2023

        Agree

  8. Robert Thomas
    August 11, 2023

    Agreed; a sensible, practical and speedy solution to this problem.

    1. IanT
      August 11, 2023

      It would seem there is a legal precedent, so why are they not doing it?

      I think a combination of reasons. I’m really not convinced that high migration is seen as a real problem by many MPs (in all parties) if for no other reason that there is a demographic timebomb already quietly causing issues in the background. We aren’t having enough children to maintain the UK population naturally. The ‘Boat’ problem helpfully distracts from the existing huge legal infux occuring.
      I suspect Mr Sunak would still ‘like’ to show he can master the problem (if only because it is clearly becoming unmanagable) but that he isn’t deeply committed to doing so. I also feel that a large part of the existing Tory MPs have just given up. They don’t expect to win next time around, so why bother with anything difficult. I’m pretty sure this attitude pervades our Civil Service these days too. From people who have just stopped caring about results to those who don’t simply agree with current policies and are dragging their feet where ever possible in the expectation of more agreeable (e.g. even more socialist) bosses arriving shortly.

  9. Everhopeful
    August 11, 2023

    It doesnā€™t really seem right to sign up to something that robs us of sovereignty even if the institution can be ā€œdisobeyedā€. Look at Uganda.
    And that is the problem. These institutions arenā€™t really interested in health/peace/self determination/human rights/giving help etc.
    They just want power and control (and minerals I expect). Obviously.
    Patently we canā€™t just leave the Treaty ( or the whole entity?) immediatelyā€¦ā€¦ā€¦but I donā€™t really understand WHY we canā€™t. Just rip up the agreement?

    1. glen cullen
      August 11, 2023

      We could repeal the ECHRs today, we could return the boats back to France today ….so why isn’t this government actually doing anything …..Rwanda, the Ascension Islands, the Barges are are red-herrings

  10. Mike Stallard
    August 11, 2023

    In Wisbech, North Cambs, migrants sleep four to a room in the Rose and Crown in the Market Place, once the swankiest hotel in the town.
    I have just been told that they go into Savers next door, block the aisles and then select whatever they fancy without paying for it. The staff have been told not to interfere.
    There are under 10 policemen for the entire town and they often have to cover in nearby Peterborough as well.

    1. Everhopeful
      August 11, 2023

      From Daily Mail Sept 11 2013

      An illegal immigrant stole 3 bottles of drink from a supermarket but no action was taken against him because his asylum application was ā€œbeing assessedā€.

      A Home Office spokesman said:
      ‘We are determined to crack down on immigration offendersā€.

      1. Mickey Taking
        August 11, 2023

        yeah right….

        1. Everhopeful
          August 11, 2023

          ++
          Itā€™s only taken them ten years to errā€¦INCREASE illegal immigration!

      2. Mark J
        August 11, 2023

        I’ve long supported that businesses clump together and take legal action against local Police Forces for failing to do their duty.

        Shoplifting is a crime. If the Police choose to ignore it, they should be entitled to compensation from the Police for their inaction.

        At the same time, we the public should be entitled to refunds if the public services we are FORCED to fund do not deliver.

        Refunds are forthcoming in the private sector for poor services and good, however the public sector can get away with providing poor service and no means of obtaining a refund.

      3. glen cullen
        August 11, 2023

        +1

    2. Donna
      August 11, 2023

      When everything is “free” courtesy of British taxpayers, why shouldn’t they also get “free stuff” from shops as well?

      1. Hope
        August 11, 2023

        If they m omit serious crime or low level crime the outcome is the same. The odds greatly stacked in their favour of remaining and be dependent on the state!

      2. Everhopeful
        August 11, 2023

        +++
        That would be the logic.
        What is it they say? ā€œTreasure Islandā€?
        Not for us thoughā€¦we just pay!

    3. Sharon
      August 11, 2023

      Mike S

      Dear God! That is dreadful!

      Who told staff not to interfere and why, I wonder? Fear of violence? That’s awful!

      1. Mickey Taking
        August 11, 2023

        I think that is basically true of all supermarkets, do not manhandle alleged shoplifters, merely try to get goods back and await Police. You there in the corner stop laughing!

    4. Cheshire Girl
      August 11, 2023

      Mike.

      When I was young (in my 20s) a crowd of us used to go to the Rose and Crown, for the Saturday night dance, that was held there.
      I agree, that it was many, many, years ago, but I remember Wisbech as a quiet little town. We felt perfectly safe, so much so, that a few of us hitched a lift back home to Downham Market, always making sure that there were more than one of us. This was about midnight, Winter and Summer.

      They were such happy days, and I would never have believed that things would be as they are today. Whole swathes of our Country have been turned into places, where it is not really safe to go, and none of us voted for it – but are made to pay for it.
      I certainly would not believed it could happen under a Conservative government.

      1. Everhopeful
        August 11, 2023

        Oh my goodness!
        How I empathise and agree with you.
        Similar memories.
        This was such a blessed and safe country.
        All wrecked by politicians.

    5. Dave Andrews
      August 11, 2023

      Isn’t the Home Office vicariously liable?

    6. Berkshire Alan
      August 11, 2023

      Mike
      Afraid this goes on all over the Country, and not just with illegals, was in Town recently and a guy came into the Cafe, (very large National chain) sorted through the snacks on the shelves inside the cabinet, made a phone call to their mate to get the order, picked up an armful of what he wanted, and then just walked out.
      Staff distracted at the time he actually walked out by a real customer at the till.
      My wife who was facing the door at the time said he was up to no good as we were drinking our coffee and would walk, all on cafe CTV but staff appeared not too concerned (probably fearing for their own safety) as clearly this had happened many times before.
      Waste of time calling the Police, what example does this set for youngsters ?

    7. glen cullen
      August 11, 2023

      According to the immigration act 1971 illegal immigrants are all ‘criminals’ ā€¦.so handcuff them as soon as they land and hold in secure camps

      1. glen cullen
        August 11, 2023

        I canā€™t think of any other country that allows an immigrant without a visa and passport to roam free

      2. turboterrier
        August 11, 2023

        glen cullen
        Is not the standard recognised tent all the UN has to supply to temporary house people?
        Why therefore are we placing them in hotels?. I understand at a push even the French supply tents in certain circumstances. No wonder they are queuing up in the thousands to come here. WTF are we playing at.

    8. Lynn Atkinson
      August 11, 2023

      I donā€™t know about you but Iā€™ve had a belly full of this nonsense. The Government have taken our country and our way of life away from us, all the while demanding obedience and taxes.

      1. Mickey Taking
        August 11, 2023

        and the conclusion is? Vote Conservative?

        1. glen cullen
          August 12, 2023

          You’re starting to sound like SirJ

  11. BOF
    August 11, 2023

    The government has talked about this for a very, very long time but not doing. Meanwhile the invasion carries on regardless, illegal AND legal. Hotels fill up, legal aid is paid, they are cosseted and receive benefits.

    To stop the boats they need to be turned back in the English Channel.

    1. Donna
      August 11, 2023

      Correct. But the gutless Tories will never do it.

      1. Timaction
        August 11, 2023

        Agreed, the Tory’s have proven to be gutless and dishonest at every turn. Chequers for May, Windsor and Truss coup for Sounout. The useless Trade deal for Ā£37 billion with the EU, whilst giving away our fish for a non competitive trade and level playing field’s environment and useless dependent energy strategy. Oh and mass immigration running through everything like a golden thread all subsidised by highest taxes ever.

    2. MFD
      August 11, 2023

      Yes BOF The call over a tannoy should be ā€œ turn around or we will sink you!ā€

      1. BOF
        August 11, 2023

        MFD
        As would be done with any invading army!

      2. Mickey Taking
        August 11, 2023

        maintain the turnaround and call the French on every occasion….I bet you 2 weeks later the boats will stop and the French will detain dinghys leaving beaches. They might even arrest the smugglers, or is that expecting too much?

  12. Old Albion
    August 11, 2023

    Sir JR. You put forward what seems to be a simple answer to the illegal immigrants issue. Why does the PM not act upon it?

    1. Donna
      August 12, 2023

      Because he doesn’t WANT to. The Not-a-Conservative-Party doesn’t WANT to stop the invasion. I think that during the BRINO negotiations a quiet agreement was made that we would “take our fair share” of the criminal migrants Merkel invited to flood into Europe.

      For the sake of appearances, Johnson/Truss/Sunak pretend to try and stop them from coming to the UK and Macron pretends to try and stop them leaving France.

  13. BOF
    August 11, 2023

    Here in distant Wales, Chairman Mark and the Cardiff Bay Committee gave us votes for prisoners and sixteen year olds. We are ever so socialist here!

  14. MPC
    August 11, 2023

    Talking about withdrawal from EHR is all hot air. The key ministers such as Jenrick and Braverman continue to talk as if they are mere bystanders saying how terrible it all is, instead of as ministers in a government with a stonking majority. Luxury ā€˜bargesā€™, luxury hotels, freedom to roam, generous weekly spending money – all the diametric opposite of what they know is necessary from Tony Abbot and Australia. The Migrant Bill/Act and Rwanda will not stop the boats. If the government was serious it would have built offshore processing centres by now in former overseas territories (the nightingale hospitals were built fast, so it can be done) and the illegals would have been transferred there immediately within existing law. Only that would break the people smuggler business model. With a change in government soon weā€™re going to have to get used to up to scores of thousands of new illegals every year. Perhaps we should ā€˜set an example to the worldā€™ like the government wants to do with CO2 emissions and provide even better services for our new guests. How about members of the oldest profession being transported to the hotels and barges – in electric cars of course. The first cavalcade could be led by Justin Welby, with the hymn ā€˜all are welcome hereā€™ blasting out to really wind up all indigenous Brits.

  15. Everhopeful
    August 11, 2023

    Govt. Is so sneaky though.
    I see they are now making the most of the ā€œlawlessnessā€ apparently caused by their (what is the word?ā€¦ Assets?) on social media. No doubt to help the Online Harms (gagging act) through.
    And interestingly Tice seems to be helping them!
    If they wanted to control genuine crime they could and would in a heartbeat.
    But obviously they just donā€™t.
    The boats! The boats!

    1. Ian B
      August 11, 2023

      @Everhopeful

      Online Harms (gagging act) – we need to protect you, so we need to monitor your every-move and permit any one we call an authority the same right. The fact that it protects no one is by-the-by(sorry it protects Government from its people), the fact the same access Government wants by default ensures the same access to both friends and foes in Foreign Lands. A spying Charter.

      All they needed to do was extend the ā€œProduct Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022ā€ that comes in to force in 2024 to encompass everything online.

  16. Narrow Shoulders
    August 11, 2023

    Why take immediate action when there is a ready made scapegoat? The reason our political class loved the European Union

  17. Peter Wood
    August 11, 2023

    Good Morning,
    Sir J,
    What a great post today; really shows that the PM’s office has no intention to stop the boats when a simple, straightforward idea is there to be used. I bet you’re not popular around the cabinet table!

    PS, why are we seeing re-runs of your old Tweets in the sidebar, rather then current/latest?

  18. Sea_Warrior
    August 11, 2023

    What you said. Action is needed; the electorate will give no credit for plans and promises. Either fix stuff or prepare for cataclysmic defeat to a bunch of Marxists campaigning on the slogan, ‘We’ll be rubbish too – but it’s time for a change!’
    Q. How many dighyists have been arrested for entering the country without documentation? (I’m guessing that the fact that they are being brought in by government vessels and the RNLI makes this difficult – in which case, stop doing it!)
    Q. How many helmsmen have been arrested for people-trafficking? (This is something that the RN/Border Force could do the second a boat enters British territorial waters.)

    1. glen cullen
      August 11, 2023

      Agree – action this day

  19. Sea_Warrior
    August 11, 2023

    Time to talk about Horizon again?

  20. Donna
    August 11, 2023

    Putting a “promise” to leave the ECHR in a General Election Manifesto would obviously be a desperate, Hail Mary Pass, to try to save themselves from electoral annihilation, without actually doing anything.

    The electorate is wise to the Not-a-Conservative-Party’s “promises” on immigration; it would be entirely unbelievable.

    Sunak said he’d stop the boats and to judge him on his record. So he’d better get on with it and amend/repeal the Human Rights Act – and then inform the ECHR that we won’t be taking any notice of their “rulings” on deportations.

  21. Peter Gardner
    August 11, 2023

    Excellent suggestion. The Government is trying to kick the can down the road and to avoid responsibility, knowing it will almost certainly lose the next general election.
    However, as I have said before the real long term answer is to prevent the illegal entrants to set foot – or boat – in UK territory because that is when the legal minefield is encountered. The sad truth is that the Sunak government does not have the political will to deliver on this promise. It is seeking only to win some popularity for the general election in 2014, not really to stop the boats, which it has every right to do in international law, including ECHR Art 5.
    Sunak is a spin merchant who overestimates both his ability in that capacity and the gullibility of the electorate.

    1. MFD
      August 11, 2023

      I agree with your last remark about Sunak, Peter. I believe most people are not that gullable!

  22. Jude
    August 11, 2023

    John, this is the whole point of sovereignty. British laws rule! This tweak to our laws could have been done in 2018/9. Why not? Was it that Mrs May had signed the Brino that included taking a minimum of 50k economic migrants? Similarly she agreed to sign UK army forces to be part of a future EU army.
    Is the truth that we are not totally free from EU commission control? Because the majority of Westminster Remainers are protecting their EU pensions & want to get their snouts back in the EU gravy trough!
    I personally think, this is a pre-planned agreed operation with EU as the majority of HOC are totally silent on our channel border being open & not protected. Preceding to spend Ā£7m a day of taxpayers money on illegal migrants. Who have & probably will never contribute financially to UK. Rather than close our borders & stop corrupt HR lawyers. So this money could build new homes & get the homeless of the streets. This whole debacle is a disgrace & is disrespectful to British voters!

  23. David Cooper
    August 11, 2023

    In circumstances where the UK is uniquely burdened by adherence to ECHR membership – the illegal immigrant invasion being a far cry from the kind of post-WW2 human plight that this court was established to protect – we need “Action This Day” (Churchill) rather than “Right! This calls for immediate discussion! (the People’s Front of Judea).
    It is becoming increasingly difficult to reach any conclusion other than that the globalist elite welcome this invasion and indeed want it, regardless of (because of?) its impact in practice upon us plebs.

  24. formula57
    August 11, 2023

    This government’s failure to act effectively to stop the boats is an attack on the British people.

    As Cromwell put it and as applies to this government: ā€œYou have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.ā€

    1. turboterrier
      August 11, 2023

      formula 57
      That goes for all of the parties.
      100 if you are very lucky worthy of the title and position.

  25. Pud
    August 11, 2023

    We keep hearing from the charities that support the illegal immigrants about the poor people who are forced to make a dangerous Channel crossing, but any purported asylum seeker from a boat was already in a safe country, France, and has travelled through several other safe countries to reach there. Arriving in the UK from a safe country should immediately disqualify any attempt to claim asylum.
    We are also told that some illegals have been trafficked. If that is true, they have been taken against their will to the UK, so surely the best solution is to return them to their home country? How can you want to stay somewhere you didn’t wish to go to?

  26. a-tracy
    August 11, 2023

    It’s just Sunak wanting to kick the ball down the road.
    So many people are sitting on the side of these dingys now it’s only a matter of time before an incident.
    Could we park up a boat with a couple of hundred bedrooms and take the dingy crossers to that, never setting foot in the UK to await processing and put people on board that boat to process them within three weeks?

  27. Brian Tomkinson
    August 11, 2023

    JR: “Get on with it to stop so many boats coming thus summer.”
    Even if this useless government were inclined to accept your suggestion, which they won’t, Parliament would have to be recalled in order to have any effect this summer – which has 3 weeks before it ends!

  28. agricola
    August 11, 2023

    Your knowledge of the ECHR is infinitely greater than mine so I accept your solution as a first step.
    I would imagine that the ECHR has grown beyond its original remit. It is a basic property of any organisation that it does expand if it can. We should look at the extent to which ECHR law has been incorporated into English law and as a second urgent step recind that which is not compatible with a sovereign nation.
    We also need to take an immediate urgent look at legal aid and the extent to which it is exacerbating the problem of removing illegal economic migrants. If we stop feeding their lawyers we shorten the time between arrival and deportation.
    I would also look at using covert military operations to destabilise the supply chain of boats, engines, and life jackets. Without these three items there are no illegals crossing the Channel.
    I have often heard that within agreed international maritime law we are free if we so choose to return them to France. My MO for this would be to pickup the illegals in UK waters , sail them with their rubber boat in tow, accompanied by a Royal Marine high speed inshore craft , to a randomly selected french beach. Put them back in their rubber boat with a broken engine and tow them to a beach. End of problem. The french would go ape, so what, it is in their DNA. That is what sovereignty and leadership are about. There are enough rubber boats in Dover to start systematically emptying all those hotels.

  29. Bryan Harris
    August 11, 2023

    An excellent solution, but does HMG have the gall to do it?

    This is one of those times when a petition, started by an MP might just make the right impact to make the government do something sensible.

  30. Sakara Gold
    August 11, 2023

    In spite of assertions to the contrary, frequently posted here, recent polling by Focaldata shows that an overwhelming majority of 73% Conservative voters support the transition to net zero.

    indeed, 50% of those polled reported that they would be embarrassed, should the party that they voted for reduce the number of rental homes being insulated to net zero standard. This latest poll confirms the results of similar 2023 polls by YouGov and others; 90% of Conservative voters support more solar power and offshore windfarms and 65% think the ban on onshore windfarms should be lifted

    The UK has a rich history of Conservative environmentalism. In 1989 Margaret Thatcher became the first world leader to raise the spectre of global warming; Theresa May set the 2050 target for net zero in law. However, Sunak and his handlers have no interest in the environment; he is so actively opposed to harvesting free energy using wind and solar that he is taxing renewable producers so much that they are cancelling N Sea projects.

    Many Conservative voters feel so strongly about doing our bit to save the planet that they will vote Labour at the next election, or stay at home. The minority on the right who are sceptical of climate change view environment action as an electoral liability, but their increasingly strident support for the fossil fuel lobby is increasingly out of touch with previously Conservative voters.

    1. Lester_Cynic
      August 11, 2023

      SG

      Not one conservative voter I know personally or on social media supports Net Zero so instead of making vague claims support your assertion with facts

    2. Mike Wilson
      August 11, 2023

      @Sakara Gold

      The minority on the right who are sceptical of climate change view environment action as an electoral liability

      Yes, that is bizarre. I donā€™t know anyone who is sceptical of man made climate change. Yet the minority on the right will vote Reform ensuring an even Greener government will be in power soon. You have to live the irony.

      57.5% renewables at the moment. Thank heaven the luddites in here have no sway.

      Reply In 2022 82% of world energy came from fossil fuels. It is going to take a vast expansion of electricity, and of renewable electricity to sort out China, India , the USA and EU who account for around two thirds of the CO 2 produced.

      1. Sakara Gold
        August 11, 2023

        @Sir John Redwood
        “82% of world energy comes from fossil fuels” I would dispute this figure as many sources that are not influenced by the fossil fuel lobby quote 65 – 70% and this is percentage is falling quite rapidly. Roughly 35% of global electricity comes from renewable sources and this figure is rising quite fast, particularly in America and China

        Reply The figure is the official Energy Institute figure for 2022

      2. Berkshire Alan
        August 12, 2023

        Mike
        I have no problem with using renewables as part of an electricity generation mix at all, the problem is that you simply cannot rely upon renewables to get a guaranteed and constant flow of electricity generation, the reason that Grid Watch readings are so different on an hour by hour basis, is surely because wind is so intermittent, Just look at the 10 minute graphs with the huge spikes and drops, hence the need to keep gas running on standby, which is an additional added cost (not shown) to the so called wind power generation cost.
        Solar speaks for itself, you know you will get nothing at night.
        Whilst I do not like the waste from Nuclear at all, as that is hardly green, it is the most stable of all generation processes for a continuous base load, home harvested gas should certainly be next, so what is the problem with more North Sea extraction, whilst it still exists.
        Biomass or burning trees is hardly green, but it has somehow, goodness knows how, gained that label.
        The simple fact is that if we constantly need to rely upon interconnections from abroad, it proves we do not have enough capacity of our own, a very clear sign of a potential risk to our security and supply.
        The Net Zero Policy as it stands is yet another fantasy all on its own, and should be treated as such.

    3. Fedupsouthener
      August 11, 2023

      SG. I knew it was you before I read the namr6. All these polls are devised the get the answer they want. A big fix. I know nobody that thinks net zero is a great idea.

      1. turboterrier
        August 11, 2023

        F O S
        You are very much not on your own.
        We, the world needs CO2 to survive.
        I do wonder how many deaths in London have on the death certificate. Air pollution. The whole thing is a big smoke and mirrors exercise to extract even more money from us. LĆ²ok how much we are paying for dingy invaders

  31. Christine
    August 11, 2023

    Promising anything in a Manifesto is a joke. Your party hasnā€™t delivered the last manifesto and has actually done the opposite with taxes and immigration plus brought forward its net zero lunacy. I for one wonā€™t believe anything our current PM says.

    If your solution to the small boats is so simple why hasnā€™t Suella Braverman, who is a qualified lawyer, done it already? I expect itā€™s because we have signed up to continue to follow ECHR decisions as part of the Brexit agreement. Your party has no intention of reducing immigration as it continues to allow mass legal immigration. If it was serious it would raise the income required to work in this country and it would encourage the masses of British people to work full time rather than the life choice of working 16 hours a week.

    Donā€™t you realise there are not enough homes for these immigrants to live in? The government has been so hostile to private landlords that they are selling up. Increased mortgage payments have slowed down the building of new houses. British people are left to live on the streets whilst this government showers these immigrants with luxuries. Itā€™s just not right or fair.

  32. Original Richard
    August 11, 2023

    New legislation is not required. It is normal international practice to not allow anyone to cross an international border without ID for national protection against crime, terrorism and social disorder. No genuine asylum seeker would throw away their ID as they would want to prove who they are and why they are fleeing their country

    It is also normal international practice to return those in distress on the high seas back to their point of departure and this has been the only method found so far to work.

    If Parliament continues to ignore the wishes of a majority of the UK to halt illegal immigration and severely cut back legal immigration, whilst at the same time impoverishing the country with Net Zero, then social upheaval will be inevitable.

    Parliament needs to organise referendums on immigration and Net Zero to give itself the mandate for their current policies.

  33. Berkshire Alan
    August 11, 2023

    John if it really is as simple as you say, then why the hell has it not been done !

    Answer, The majority of our Politicians simply do not want to take action, perhaps out of fear of upsetting France and other Countries, Pathetic just pathetic.

  34. Iain Russell Moore
    August 11, 2023

    A manifesto isn’t carved in stone when it comes to the Government fulfilling the promises made to the electorate that they and establishment don’t want to do, then the manifesto becomes this flexible document.

    We are being misled by the emphasis being put on the ECHR, the problems we face are combination of the 1951 Convention, which is unworkable in current times, ECHR, and the Human Rights Act . One of the big problems was that Blair incorporated the ECHR into the HRA , this the Government could deal with by amending the HRA, in fact I gather it would have been sorted out with Raab’s UK Bill of Rights, but Sunak went a crapped that, now why did he go and do that? After all wasn’t that in the manifesto?

    1. Iain Russell Moore
      August 11, 2023

      Sorry scrapped not crapped, but even so it isn’t that far off.

  35. glen cullen
    August 11, 2023

    Your suggestion SirJ is simple, straightforward and doable ā€¦.its a vote winner, with the support of the majority of people ā€¦it hasnā€™t a chance due to your fellow Tory MPs

  36. Ian B
    August 11, 2023

    On these pages elsewhere
    @Peter Gardner, August 11, 2023 – ā€˜The UKā€™s incapacity for self-government is remarkable.ā€™

    That says it all we have a Parliament full of MPā€™s that we Democratically voted and empowered to be our Legislators. The first thing they do, is refuse to act for the people that voted for them, and in the case of the Criminals crossing the Channel they denied their own Constituents their own ā€˜human rightsā€™

    Adopting other people versions of Laws that were probably made to deal with a different set of circumstances is a bizarre concept when you call yourself a Democracy. Likewise adopting other peoples Courts as the dictator to overrule your own legal system is bizarre in a Democracy.

  37. Ian B
    August 11, 2023

    This Conservative Government with the backing of the HoC is condoning Foreign Criminal invading the UK, while clamping down on them in Oxford Street ā€“ go figure.

  38. Alan Paul Joyce
    August 11, 2023

    Dear Mr. Redwood,

    The French authorities have a policy whereby they will not interfere with small boats as soon as they have been launched in their waters unless the boat is in difficulties or asks for help. To do so, they say, would be to put the lives of the migrants at risk. This policy is, of course, highly convenient for the French. It permits them to escort the boats all the way to the middle of the Channel where the Border Force and RNLI are, of course, waiting for them having already been notified by the French of their arrival.

    No other country would accept such a one-sided arrangement. If the situation were reversed, would France accept tens of thousands of people handed over to them by the UK? I think not.

    There is only one way to stop the boats and everyone knows what it is. The UK should inform France that the situation is no longer acceptable or sustainable and issue a period of notice after which the UK will turn the boats around. France should be informed that if they allow boats to leave their shores then they must intercept them and accept that the safety of the boats and of the people in them is their responsibility. This would no doubt cause a diplomatic incident but it is past time for the UK to stand up for itself and not be treated by the French as a doormat and dumping ground.

    Of course, the likelihood of this happening from this government is nil so the boats will continue to the detriment of the country and the Conservative party’s electoral prospects.

    1. Donna
      August 12, 2023

      The French and British authorities are working together for a reason: they agreed to do it.

      Macron is not trying to stop the boats from leaving and Sunak is not trying to stop them coming – because, I think, they have agreed that “the UK must take their fair share.”

  39. Roy Grainger
    August 11, 2023

    The problem with your idea is that there isn’t a majority in Parliament who will vote to disapply the ECHR in this case. There are enough “one nation” Conservative MPs who would abstain or vote against it so it wouldn’t pass.

    1. Ian B
      August 11, 2023

      @Roy Grainger – Although if we had a working Democratic Parliament as legislators they would be creating the Laws, Amending or Repealing them, as the fit in a UK context. Then our own Courts and Legal System would have legitimacy ā€“ as it stands our Parliament has caused the UK to be someone else’s puppet. In other words the HoC refuses the job we empowered and paid them to do, so why is it there.

  40. Mike Wilson
    August 11, 2023

    The 2024 election is utterly irrelevant. It doesnā€™t matter if you vote or donā€™t vote. It doesnā€™t matter who you vote for. Pick a party, any party – nothing will change.

    Immigration will be high or higher. Illegal migration will carry on. Taxes will go up. Borrowing will go up. The size and cost of the state will go up. Relax, donā€™t worry – nothing we do, think or say will make any difference. Unless you vote green. A couple of million people voting Green does drive government policy. Whereas a couple of million voting Reform will just lead to articles saying that all the nasty racists should be prosecuted.

    1. Mike Wilson
      August 11, 2023

      Ooh, tell a lie – Labour ā€˜promisedā€™ (whatever that means) to freeze Council Tax. Thatā€™s the main tax I pay so that will get my vote.

  41. George Sheard
    August 11, 2023

    We are independent we should have nothing to do with the EU

  42. glen cullen
    August 11, 2023

    Skilled Worker visa (UK 2023): The minimum salary for the type of work youā€™ll be doing is whichever is the highest out of the following 3 options:
    (1) Ā£26,200 per year
    (2) Ā£10.75 per hour
    (3) the ā€˜going rateā€™ for the type of work youā€™ll be doing
    https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/your-job
    Just another lie from this Tory government about limiting immigration

    1. Timaction
      August 11, 2023

      The all party Climate Change Committee are outside democratic control. The 5 year plans will start to cause serious harm to the poor, our economy and way of life in the very near future. This is is all already legislated under the Climate Change Act. It must go and so must the legacies who don’t care for the English people, just minority groups and issues plus anything woke. They will hide this at the next election, be warned, the Torys are complicit.

  43. Mike Wilson
    August 11, 2023

    Why doesnā€™t the government lay on a ferry for the illegal migrants. The story is that they pay thousands to ā€˜smuggling gangsā€™ (who MUST and WILL be tackled (one day, when hell freezes over)), so, why not cut out the smugglers and simply charge people to come here. If you charged them, say, 5 grand, at least it would defray some of the hotel costs until their asylum claims are sorted out.

    Or, save even more money and disband the Home Office and the asylum process. This would allow more criminals in which is probably good for GDP.

  44. David Frank Paine
    August 11, 2023

    Good idea. But fly in the ointment is House of Lords. If they were to block or water down this approach, that would be motivation for reform.

    1. glen cullen
      August 11, 2023

      Itā€™s the majority of Tory MPs and the cabinet ministers that donā€™t want to leave the ECHRs

  45. Fran
    August 11, 2023

    This country us full up so ship them out to a new location, we did the same before for the undesirables in the 1800’s when we sent them to Australia and see what a fine place that turned out to be ‘

    So do the same again find some uninhabited farflung British outpost or else carve out some other suitable uninhabited area in Namibia or Western Sahara for instance buy the land if necessary like the Americans did for the Black Slaves emancipated when they gave them Liberia.
    We built Hong Kong from a fishing village so why cannot we do the same again.

    It cannot be beyond the wits of man to find a new place for them – no need to send them to overcrowded places like Rawanda.

  46. Bert+Young
    August 11, 2023

    As usual SirJohn has come up with a simple and straightforward approach to the ECHR dilemma . We must not be dominated by bodies outside of our jurisdiction . Attempts to put controls over the huge problem of over population and congestion that we face must not be allowed ; we have to put our foot down . Going public on this issue in the manner that Sir John has highlights the need for his leadership in the country . We badly need change in our Governance and it has to come from the top down .

  47. Keith from Leeds
    August 11, 2023

    It seems simple, but if it is, why has the Government not acted? Any sensible person would say stop all immigration, legal or illegal, for, say three years to get the backlog sorted & deport criminals. Get tough with France & the EU for allowing it to happen, stop giving them any money, remove fishing licences, & slow down customs for incoming goods until there is a real backlog in the EU. Maybe then they would take action.
    The simple question we want answered is, ” Does our PM have a backbone or a wishbone!”

  48. Derek
    August 11, 2023

    So why is it not being done, NOW? Is procrastination a compulsory part of Whitehall DNA?
    Why does anything take so long when a task is handed to the faceless ones who appear to run the country? Is it deliberate or a result of total incompetence at the job?
    Either way, this practice must be over-ridden even when it costs some their jobs. Lets have the public sector within Government Departments run as a Private Enterprise and become efficient or be closed down in favour of the Private Sector taking over their jobs.
    We know it works as we have seen with the very successful Covid vaccine logistics. ‘DIN’ – Do IT Now! Our Nations’ security is at stake.

  49. lesley mcconochie
    August 11, 2023

    Totally agree John Redwood. You are one of the few true conservatives left in Westminster.

  50. Geoffrey Berg
    August 11, 2023

    I agree with Sir John Redwood over this. A democratically elected government and Parliament should not allow itself to be overruled nor even delayed by any unelected group, including lawyers (I disagree with the now conventional political theory that mistakenly follows Montesquieu and creates a balance of power between elected politicians and unelected lawyers. If a safeguard were needed against Parliament the only democratically legitimate safeguard would be a provision for an overriding Referendum of all the people as is possible in the Swiss system.)
    The government should not allow their priority and promise of curtailing illegal immigration to be curtailed by politically biased lawyers either within Britain or in the European Court of Human Rights who think they can override democracy. A provision to make this law overriding and non-justiciable either in domestic or foreign courts is appropriate.
    It is also good politics. The ECHR would either have to yield to our position or start expelling us. If it yields it is a triumph for the government. If it wants to expel us from the ECHR it means rather than the Conservatives it is the Opposition that would be seeking change (generally an electorally more difficult stance) from the status quo at the next general election and advocating that we get dictated to by a foreign court concerning unwanted illegal immigration and presumably much else besides.

  51. Everhopeful
    August 11, 2023

    However no one has ever been able to adequately explain WHY the govt. refuses to stop the boats.
    The only explanation really can be ā€œFollowing Ordersā€.
    And we know the pitfalls of that!
    Mr S needs to convince us with JRā€™s simple Bill.
    We need a lot of convincing.

    1. Donna
      August 12, 2023

      +1 Following Orders …. or complying with a secret Agreement with the EU/France.

      They are certainly doing nothing to GENUINELY try and stop the invasion.

  52. The Prangwizard
    August 11, 2023

    It’s all just talk anyway. No stopping of illegals from getting here on boats. Just ‘please don’t do it’. They know when they get here they get their pockets filled so they won’t stop.

    Sir John thinks his talk is action but it makes no difference on the street. He daren’t upset his party, nor himself, nor will he take any personal risks for solutions. We, the people, pay penalties. Only we are hurt and offended, damaged and assaulted.

    Revolutionary action by the people is needed to restore our freedoms, identity and sovereignties. Street action is needed.

    1. corncrake
      August 11, 2023

      The Prangwizard – Wrong country for street action for a start we can’t have freedoms when there’s a medieval King at the top supported by a class system with all the trappings – no chance

      1. glen cullen
        August 11, 2023

        Donā€™t forget the new fashion cults, vegan, just stop oil, agenda21, cop2#, blm, cancel culture

        1. glen cullen
          August 12, 2023

          ….and pride

  53. formula57
    August 11, 2023

    And now, today, this government’s most recent gimic to fool the gullible that it is serious about stopping the boats descends into chaos as we see all bogus asylum migrants moved off the barge by reason of discovery on boared of Legionella bacteria.

    Ministers might be “absolutely determined” but that is pointless since they are quite useless too.

  54. The Prangwizard
    August 11, 2023

    A few days ago I expressed the view that this country has become ungovernable. Subversive forces are granted support and encouragement in respect to their human rights and rights to protest.

    Today we hear that illegals have been removed from the Bibby Stockholm barge because it is alleged by someone or some organisation legionaires bacteria have been found on it. Who are they, who is in charge?

    It seems here we get immediate action should anyone claim there is a problem but no action is taken when legal citizens are forced to live for months in council accommodation with mould growth on the walls of all rooms which causes ill-health. Is the same organisation responsible for barges and damp flats?

    What will you do about that Sir John? Innocent English residents are dying. Is it all honest?

    1. Ian B
      August 11, 2023

      @The Prangwizard +1
      UK Citizens are homeless, yet foreign Criminal are found high quality accommodation. How is it that a person who intentionally makes themselves a criminal, entering the UK illegally, without papers or ID is a criminal offence. How can one person claim a Human Right when that same right infringes another’s Human Right?

  55. glen cullen
    August 11, 2023

    Home Office data as at 10th August
    Illegal Immigrants ā€“ 775, Small Boats ā€“ 14
    Europe Interconnectors as at 14:00hrs is 16.4%

    This government is pathetic, its in-action is traitorous, its treaties undemocratic and its policies irrational & marist ā€¦.is there any party that will protect our borders, our traditions, our culture and way of life

    Can anyone explain the benefits of membership of the European Council ECHRs ā€¦if thereā€™s no benefits, whats the point of our membership

  56. Mike Wilson
    August 11, 2023

    57.5% renewables at 14.25. All that has not needed to be burnt. Excellent.

    1. glen cullen
      August 11, 2023

      Creating more room for Chinese coal fired power stations on the planet

  57. forthurst
    August 11, 2023

    Will your warmongering in Ukraine also form part of your next manifesto, “We we do all in our power to continue conflict with Russia in order to prevent Germany ever recovering from the basket case it now is as this is very much in the interests of the warmongers in Washington driving NATO policy and not at all in our interest as we are paying very much more for our energy for which we are being ripped off by Washington and it also enables Washington to continue to control its Western allies for in order to pose on the world stage as global hegemon.”

  58. Bill Smith
    August 11, 2023

    Sir JR

    So we are going to overrule the ECHR that we were partnerĀ“s to set up . Breaking human rights and international law to protect our shores from something we cannot stop, by legislating in Parliament.

    Sorry, but that really sound like a good idea?

    Or have you just lost the ball this time?

    1. Ian B
      August 11, 2023

      @Bill Smith – “Breaking human rights and international law” – We have UK Parliament and Courts that we democratically elected pay and empower to create Laws for the UK. Are you saying our MPā€™s are not capable as legislators to create human rights laws? Then why have them?

      In terms of Sovereign Democracy the ECHR, the Laws it creates and the Court it runs is not a democratic Legislator, which would suggest it is anti democracy, anti human freedoms. It also has no foundation as a creator of International Law. Its a talking shop for those that cant get a proper job, much as our own House of Lords.

      1. Bill Smith
        August 12, 2023

        Ian B

        |This is a court not a democratically elected institution and it was never supposed to be. It was set up by democratically elected governments as it was supposed by the British government when it was set up.
        It has nothing to do with anti-democracy or anti human rights, so unfortunately you seem to have done your home-work on what the ECHR represents. So try again

    2. Everhopeful
      August 11, 2023

      Yes.
      Yes.
      Yes.
      Do you mean ā€œTaken your eye off the ballā€? Or could it be ā€œLost the plotā€?
      No..JR most definitely has not.

    3. Mickey Taking
      August 11, 2023

      we should learn fron making mistakes …this is one!

  59. Mark J
    August 11, 2023

    Stop the pampering of illegal arrivals and the “freebies” they receive and the numbers will soon drop off.

    Why is it right that Illegals are housed in 4 and 5* luxury upon arrival, guaranteed NHS Dental Care, a Doctor and Legal Aid, all bills and meals provided for and weekly money to spend, when many of the indigenous population struggle to get any of these. In better times this would grate, however in a cost of living crisis this seriously infuriates the majority.

    Illegals should not be housed in Council accommodation at our expense, jumping the queue above those many 1000’s of British who have been on the waiting list for years. We must be the only country in the world that prioritises social accommodation to illegal migrants over the native population. This rubbish really has to stop. It fuels massive anger and resentment from those on the waiting list and those lumbered in sub standard and temporary accommodation.

    Basically if the Government wasn’t so free and easy with our money to Illegals, many would get the message. The UK is not the place to come and get a ‘free’ guaranteed home, ‘free’ NHS treatment, nor ‘free’ money to spend each week.

    There are many Border experts out there, including some who appear on Talk TV with practical solutions to this problem. However the Government continues to ignore them, thinking it knows to how to deal with this problem.

    It clearly doesn’t.

    If the Home Office had any sense, it would immediately bring the likes of Henry Bolton OBE on board to sort this issue. He has done so in other countries – but is ignored by his own.

    When will the Conservatives awake from their slumber and realise they won’t win the next election unless clear action is being taken, and not just endless words.

    Action as in stopping people setting foot on UK soil to begin with, not dealing with the problem when they are already here.

  60. XY
    August 11, 2023

    Surely it is obvious to a politician that if other politicians are suggesting a “long grass” solution then they don’t want it to happen.

    Putting it the manifesto fo a party destined to lose by a landslide is as good as saying “Let’s pretend we’re doing something by doing something that will never come to fruition”.

    And if they happen, by some miracle, to win the next election… well, they can always play the old game of consultation, review etc and if push comes to shove… it wouldn’t be the first manifesto promise their party has unceremoniously ditched.

    100% obvious those people don’t want to do anything to keep the migrants coming. Yet another reason I won’t be voting for any of the parties currently in Westminster.

  61. glen cullen
    August 11, 2023

    You only need to stand on the cliffs of Dover with a pair of binoculars to see an invading armada of 755 army age young men in 17 boats ā€¦.Iā€™ve absolutely no doubt that both governments have colluded in allowing safe passage of these illegal immigrants

    1. Donna
      August 12, 2023

      Correct.

  62. Elli Ron
    August 11, 2023

    The illegal immigration are a crushing burden on the actual structure of the UK, our own citizens have become de facto second class in obtaining health services, education and even their own house.
    The financial burden is large but the moral hazard of hundreds of thousands of illegal intruders who are largely dangerous (we donā€™t know who they really are).
    This is an emergency and we must take any and all means to stop the influx.

    1. glen cullen
      August 11, 2023

      Correct

  63. Derek
    August 11, 2023

    We can thank ‘wonderman’ and multi-millionaire, Blair for the current predicament. He locked us into the ECHR in 1998, under his “Human Rights Act”. That his wife, also a multi-millionaire, was and remains a Human Rights Lawyer, does make we wonder what his true intentions were. Hmm.
    But why has it never been repealed?
    Why are our own High Courts over ridden by secret “judges” sitting in Foreign country?
    British Law, surely, cannot be surpassed by any other outside of OUR borders? We could never ever be truly independent, otherwise. And nobody got to vote for any of it. Some democracy we have here.

  64. Original Richard
    August 11, 2023

    O/T if I may :

    I notice that today between 12:00 hrs to 14:00 hrs wholesale electricity prices went negative. At the same time we were exporting electricity to every interconnector country except Norway when we normally import electricity to reduce our CO2 emissions statistics.

    These exports at negative prices can only be because it would cost more to pay the wind farms constraint payments.

    Renewable energy, the gift that keeps on giving.

    1. Mickey Taking
      August 11, 2023

      giving to whom?

      1. Derek
        August 12, 2023

        I do believe it was a sarcastic remark.
        However, renewable energy is always giving………our money to the foreigners who build and own most of our renewables sources. What incompetent signed us up to that wretched deal? And was he another knighted for his ‘stupendous efforts to save the world’? LOL.

    2. glen cullen
      August 11, 2023

      Its a money making scam

  65. Linda Brown
    August 12, 2023

    But the boats are not stopping so what are you going to do about it? We hear that disease is being introduced into the country by some of this illegals so we could have terrible trouble with NHS services which cannot meet indigenous needs never mind all these illegals arriving. You have had 13 years to sort this mess out and it is getting worse. If you want to retain any kind of representation in the next Parliament I think you need to take responsibility for this breakdown. You as a revered member of the Party should be taken more seriously by these younger elements and be given respect for your views. One of them should be how to stop this flow of illegals or you are ‘up the shoot’ I am afraid.

  66. Aden
    August 12, 2023

    The plan is to make a fuss and do nothing. Same as labour. Force down wages. Then since you spend 18k per person per year who pays for that? On min wage you pay 1k a year in tax. You cost more because of redistribution. If you are a dependent you pay no tax. But screw the peasants sums up Westminster

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