I Ā have received the enclosed letter from the Immigration Minister about the situation in Calais and the Mediterranean:
Dear John
………………..
Security of the UK border is our priority. Basing UK controls in France enables Border Force to stop illegal migrants before they reach our shores. Since 2010, this Government has invested millions of pounds in strengthening the security of our border in Calais and other key ports. The Home Secretary and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve set out a number of commitments in a joint declaration which was published on 20 September (I think he means 20 th August this year ed)Ā to tackle problems at the port of Calais, including Ā£12 million from the UK Government towards bolstering security and infrastructure.
Border Force uses an array of search techniques including sniffer dogs, carbon dioxide detectors, heartbeat monitors and scanners ā as well as visual searches ā to find well-hidden stowaways. Additionally, we have installed Passive Millimetric Wave (PMMW) scanner detention technology at Zeebrugge, to enable the port authorities to scan freight lorries for clandestine illegal entrants. When migrants are detected at our juxtaposed controls, they are passed to the French authorities for further action, which may include enforced return to their home country.
Additionally, through increased joint intelligence work with the French, we continue to target the organised crime gangs behind smuggling and people trafficking. A multi-agency UK Task Force was launched in February 2014, working with European and international colleagues to share intelligence and co-ordinate activity to tackle organised immigration crime groups.
There is also good collaboration, on the ground, between Border Force and the French Police aux Frontieres. Together, we are working on an action plan for:
ā¢ strengthening security further at the juxtaposed controls in Calais;
ā¢ active operational work against organised crime;
ā¢ stronger action within the EU, and during Italyās EU Presidency for which migration is a central theme (this was I believe in 2014 ed);
ā¢ strengthening the Southern Mediterranean border; and
ā¢ how the UK and partners can tackle illegal migration upstream, particularly from the Horn of Africa and Maghreb.
The Immigration Act will also have a major impact on the Home Officeās work to secure our borders, enforce our immigration laws and continue to attract the brightest and the best to the UK. The Act puts the law firmly on the side of those who respect it, not those who break it, by:
ā¢ stopping migrants using public services to which they are not entitled;
ā¢ reducing the pull factors which encourage people to come to the UK for the wrong reasons; and
ā¢ making it easier to remove people who should not be here.
The wave of migrants crossing the Mediterranean is not just a problem for Southern European countries; it is an issue that affects us all. Many of those trying to cross the Channel from Calais arrived in Europe across the Mediterranean. So we need to work together in Europe on a comprehensive plan that will tackle the root causes of this issue and stem the flow.
The UK is playing a leading role in pushing for action through the EU and the UN to tackle the causes of illegal immigration and the organised trafficking gangs behind it, as well as increasing support and protection for those who need it. It is action of this kind which offers the best hope of an effective response to the numbers of attempted crossings to Europe and the tragic loss of lives.
The UK sent HMS Bulwalk,(Bulwark ed)Ā with helicopters and border patrol ships, as part of the international rescue effort. Since then tens of thousands of lives have been saved, around 5,000 by UK assets alone. HMS Bulwalk was withdrawn on 3 July for planned maintenance but the UK contribution will remain through HMS Enterprise, a Merlin helicopter and border patrol vessels.
We need to treat the causes of this problem, not just deal with its consequences. Tackling this issue in the long term can only be done with a comprehensive solution. That means helping the countries where these people come from to reduce the push factors; build stability and create livelihoods; and to go after the criminal gangs and trafficking networks profiting from this human misery.
We are establishing a dedicated law enforcement team to tackle the threat posed by illegal immigration from North Africa, in light of the surge in numbers crossing the Mediterranean. The 90-strong team will bring together officers from the National Crime Agency, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and the CPS with the task of relentlessly pursuing and disrupting organised crime groups profiting from the people smuggling trade.
With a handful of Europol cells in Sicily and The Hague and the rest on standby in the UK to deploy to different areas in the region as required, they will exploit every opportunity at source, in transit countries and in Europe to bring the gangsā criminal operations to an end. The UK is also a leading member of the ācore groupā of EU Member States and African partners developing the EUās āKhartoum Processā, focused on concrete actions to combat people smuggling and human trafficking in the Horn of Africa.
We also need a Government in Libya that we can work with to address this problem as the majority of people are travelling through that country. The UK is working with EU partners on what more can be done, but we are clear that it is essential that any measures taken do not increase the pull to the EU. As the Prime Minister has repeatedly said, we need to break the link between embarking in unseaworthy boats from North Africa and entering and remaining in the EU illegally. This form of illegal migrant funds organised crime and undermines fair access to our countries. That is why we welcome the decision of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 22 June to launch a military operation in the southern Mediterranean. The operation will seize smugglersā vessels on the high seas and will disrupt smuggling networks and prevent further human tragedy.
More widely, to have a credible EU migrant policy and to free up resource to help those genuinely in need of our protection, we must remove the perception that getting on a boat will lead to automatic settlement in the EU. Until we do that numbers will continue to grow, criminals will get richer and public confidence will be damaged irreparably.
Wherever possible we should return the boats immediately whence they came. But if we cannot do that we must ensure that when they arrive on EU shores we stop, fingerprint, and screen migrants to control their movement and to distinguish between genuine refugees and economic migrants.
We must ensure that they cannot travel further than their point of arrival and must return them without delay to their country of origin. That means investing real effort in infrastructure and expertise at the most exposed borders. But is also requires the determination to make it happen, not least from those countries most affected.
It is also clear that we need to enhance efforts to help stabilise the countries from which migrants are travelling. This includes stepping up efforts to address conflict and instability as key drivers of migration, including in Syria. The UK is at the forefront of the international response to the crisis in Syria, committing Ā£900 million in humanitarian assistance. Our support has reached hundreds of thousands of people across Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt.
We also support the EUās proposals for sustainable protection in North and East Africa under EU Regional Development and Protection Programmes (RDPPs). RDPPs aim to improve the conditions for refugees seeking protection in their region of origin until they are able to return to their homes, and to help support their host communities. We are already participating in the Middle East RDPP, which is supporting a sustainable approach to protection for those who have fled to neighbouring countries to escape the Syrian crisis, and we have pledged ā¬500,000 to that Programme. We support the proposals for new RDPPs in North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Enhanced, safer and more sustainable regional protection is key to protecting those in genuine need of refuge, and preventing further dangerous journeys to Europe.
We will continue to work with our EU, Mediterranean, and African partners more broadly to develop and implement actions in the region in order to reduce the number of those placing their lives in the hands of criminal facilitators and the resulting loss of life.
Yours ever
Rt Hon James Brokenshire
August 26, 2015
They know once they are here they stay. Why do the government try to fool us, be honest. You give them bail and release them they then dissappear into the black economy. They are under the radar for years, then suprise suprise human rights, are given as an excuse to appeal again and again.
Then the government wonder why the public have no confidence in them.
August 26, 2015
I’ve been complaining to successive legacy Governments about their lack of a coherent plan to deal with mass migration for years. Whether it is students as a backdoor to pay for UK citizenship, non EU workers with alleged skills we need, Illegals of all descriptions or those millions from the A8 who come as unskilled workers. Legacy Governments are all talk as above. When I see a plan to repatriate some of the 2 million illegally here removed I’ll start to believe them. As an Englishman my Human Rights are second class to all those criminal migrants with rights I don’t have but am expected to pay for. Our Westminster EU placemen and women are a joke. At least 8 million are now foreign born although we all know it is a lot more. I didn’t vote for any of this and have no representation.
When are English people going to wake up and vote for the only patriotic party who would do something about this?
August 26, 2015
“When are English people going to wake up and vote for the only patriotic party who would do something about this?”
When it’s too late.
August 26, 2015
Agreed, Timaction.
August 26, 2015
Fierce words, but when are YOU going to ask and what are YOU going to do for a more representative way of electing MPs?
August 26, 2015
Since you ask; maybe YOU, Hefner, could give us all the benefit of YOUR advice?
August 27, 2015
Get rid of FPTP and get a more proportional representation of what has become a multi-party country (instead of the century-old image of a two-party country).
It is rather funny that UKIP-inclined people only get a representation thanks to the EU electoral system.
August 26, 2015
Hefner, I already do take action by supporting the only patriotic party and in the build up to the elections took direct action leafleting and canvassing both locally and around the Country to try and inform and gain support.
Next month we are going to start work with the local Conservative MP and others who want to leave the EU. We will use a variety of tactics to raise awareness.
As far as changing the system most people I talk to agree that first past the post is past its sell by date and doesn’t give the people a representative say on who should represent them in Parliament.
August 26, 2015
Exactly, nowt but verbose hot air. How many were deported over the last 12 months? Almost none I suspect, but he does not bother to tell us, this despite using all those largely vacuous words. They will clearly keep trying to come until it is made very plain that there is no point in trying, other than through a proper application. Indeed with current government policies the problem will grow rapidly.
August 26, 2015
I think its become vital that a “safe list” is compiled by the Government or our masters, the EU. As countries’ become safe, people must be told to return home. Ethiopia now has a space programme (why are we still funding this country – Ā£300 million?) and it means those who once left can now go back with their families etc… The right to a family life does not necessarily mean in the UK. As a child I travelled extensively (army) and children adapt to new languages and customs quickly.
I do believe much of the problem lies in the inability of the UK Government to deport illegal economic migrants when they are caught. Many of them are just let out onto the street again and of course disappear. For the public to have faith in an immigration system, it has to be fair and well controlled. We also need to insist that people who commit serious crimes are not welcomed and those that abuse our hospitality should be sent back to their own country regardless of whether it is safe or not.
August 26, 2015
A new record in levels of legal immigration to be announced, I hear.
So Mr Brokenshire’s letter is bunk. So too any government guesstimate or forcast on the economy – without having a clue to our population levels.
Any refugee gaining citizenship in another EU country has the freedom of Britain. Italy’s asylum problem is ours and there is nothing we can do about it.
It is LEGAL immigration that is the real problem. The bar is too low and the Government is happy with levels unacceptable to the people who voted for them.
This is about to go exponential.
Why didn’t you listen to us ?
August 26, 2015
The answer is not to give vast amounts of money to corrupt and broken regimes but to use it to protect our borders like any proper country would.
August 26, 2015
A sovereign democracy can remove its leaders, impose border controls and legislate its own laws. We no longer do this and are a region of the EU under the pretence of leaders in Westminster. People need to wake up and smell the coffee. Its here! The evidence is all around us.
August 26, 2015
Mr Redwood is a member of the party which forms this government. Their plan is to adopt Associate EU Membership just before the referendum and to do that you need to “negotiate”. Mr Cameron and several other well placed people are determined to stay in Europe as is moves slowly and inexorably towards 1984.
August 26, 2015
Germany has announced it will give asylum to any and all who chip up. I wonder under free movement where they will go once in possession of a bit of paper? We are Governed by the enemy from within who do not care about the English as a race or culture. When I read that no benefits will be given to foreign people of any description for a considerable number of years and that they will have to pay for their public services be it health, education or housing I’ll start to believe the legacies are genuine. After 50 years of lies about immigration and the EU superstate its hard to take any of them seriously.
August 26, 2015
Agree – letter is full of the usual political hog wash. Would be interested to get some flesh on the so call strengthening of regulations -how is government going to “stop immigrants using public services” “reducing pull factor” removing people”
Sweet words butter no parsnips. Just more words and no implementation – sorry robust implementation (the current in word)
August 26, 2015
If this is the Ministerial statement you referred to in your recent reply to me, it doesn’t cover our concerns at all.
Calais is a sideshow : 3,000 amongst 300,000 net migrants a year.
What almost the entire population of the UK wants to see is net immigration “reduced to the tens of thousands” as promised by the PM on several occasions and most particularly restated during the election campaign.
We all know he won’t be able to do anything about the 50% that comes from within the EU – that can only be dealt with by us voting No in the referendum.
BUT the Government COULD do something IMMEDIATELY about the other 50% of migrants that come from outside the EU.
As I have said here many times before, we would start to take Cameron seriously if he implemented measures to do something about this half of the problem : He needs to reduce the net flow of at least 150,000 migrants pa into our country from outside the EU to the “Fives of thousands.”
Being at last free of the LibDems I expected to see an Australian-style points system proposed in the Queen’s Speech but there was just a deafening silence.
As far as I can see he hasn’t even got a plan in place to deal with this let alone implement one!
We will not take Cameron seriously until a proper plan is introduced to deal with this problem. The matter is urgent : we have a housing shortfall for our own people and, unlike EU migrants, those from the rest of the world place a disproportionate demands on NHS services.
At current rates, every month’s delay means another 12,500 people from outside the EU to house and provide NHS services for. Put another way, Cameron’s lack of action on non-EU migration is adding the number or people who voted for you in the 2015 general election to the population every 75 days and a Borough the size of Wokingham to the UK population every year !
Perhaps you could write to the PM and ask him to tell us in words of one syllable what he is actually going to do to reduce net migration from outside the EU to the “Fives of Thousands” and when the target will be achieved ?
We all look forward to reading his reply here.
Reply The plan to reduce inward migration of course wishes to control non EU migration and includes new legislation this autumn to do so. The law will limit economic migration to people with skills and qualifications that are needed, and to students paying for courses here.As we see controlling migration from outside the EU is not easy all the time we belong to the EU on current terms, as many non EU people come under freedom of movement provisions from other EU countries.
August 26, 2015
“The law will limit economic migration to people with skills and qualifications that are needed, and to students paying for courses here.”
Students who should not be classified as immigrants of any description, but instead as temporary residents for the purposes of study, and who should almost all automatically leave the country when they have finished their studies, which it seems only a minority are now doing.
Reply It is not easy persuading students to leave after studying, and the universities like their students to be able to work for a bit in the UK on graduating. The students are separately identified in the numbers, but they are migrants for the time they choose to study here. Many do not go home to their parents in the vacations and are rightly able to live here throughout their study years so they are residents.
August 26, 2015
“It is not easy persuading students to leave after studying”
The threat of arrest and deportation should be persuasive enough.
August 26, 2015
Chris – This letter is a deceit. The focus on *illegal* immigration is a deceit.
Mass immigration is clearly a firm Tory policy but they lied and lied and lied about it to get people to vote for them and they are lying now too.
The coming EU referendum should be phrased thus:
“Do you wish to disband the British Government in favour of being ruled totally by Europe ?”
Because, at present, I cannot see the point in a British government. It does not serve its people, it is surplus to requirement (the EU does most of the work) and salaries are being drawn on false pretences.
August 26, 2015
Anonymous: “The focus on *illegal* immigration is a deceit. ”
Good to see someone else noticed that. The whole letter is a lie perpetrated by Mr Brokenshire ( how apt ) and promulgated by Mr Redwood.
Both should be ashamed.
August 26, 2015
“As we see controlling migration from outside the EU is not easy all the time we belong to the EU on current terms, as many non EU people come under freedom of movement provisions from other EU countries.”
We can only ever judge politicians by results.
By your reply it’s clear that the Conservative party intends to blame the EU for ALL inward migration, not just EU citizens coming here under FOM.
I respectfully suggest you do write to the PM as I suggested and ask him to outline for your supporters here exactly what his plan is to “reduce net migration to the tens of thousands.”
In case mathematics were not his best subject at Eton, to fulfill his promise, realistically we should be looking for net migration to be reduced from 300,000pa to at most, say, 30,000pa, a reduction of 270,000pa.
What exactly is his plan to achieve this ???????
Like all good business plans, we want to see no wriggle room :
The objectives need to be clearly defined, the results measureable and success achieved within a defined timescale. There should be intermediate targets so we can check that it’s on track.
August 27, 2015
John, you know your reply is nonsense as the way intra company transfer visas and indefinite leave visas are issued demonstrates.
August 26, 2015
Good morning.
There is so much in this that I want to frisk that I do not know where to begin. But it would be a great start if the UK insisted that the French government start deporting these economic migrants back to the country they first landed in. Either that, or send them right back home.
PS Zeebrugge (second paragraph) is in Belgium, so why are we passing illegals to the French ??
August 26, 2015
Re Zeebrugge – I think this is a stand-alone sentence. The ‘juxtaposed controls’ refers, I think, to those in Calais. Just careless wording on the part of the letter writer.
August 26, 2015
Is this a new letter??? The Italian EU presidency was in 2014 and the next time may well be after 2020.
Good to see that, at least for now, the UK does a bit more than just “trade with the EU”.
August 26, 2015
How do Dutch people feel about the Spinelli plan for a new Lisbon Treaty?
August 26, 2015
@Mike Stallard: I don’t think that within the spectrum of Dutch opinion there is much appetite for a new treaty. I don’t really expect one before 2020. Treaty change won’t be driven by think tanks but by developments making them necessary.
August 26, 2015
Peter.
“Trade” is the sole thing that we supposedly signed up to in 1975. To many in the UK, anything more is unwelcome interference in our lives. I want no part in the EU at any level but trade only would be my chosen upper limit.
August 26, 2015
@Jagman84: Your legal signature for the ‘Treaty of Rome’ dates from 1973. Subsequent treaties have also have been signed by your government and ratified by your houses of parliament.
August 26, 2015
….and blatent lies told by the legacy parties on the true reasons for those treaties e.g. tidying up exercises, enhance trade blah blah blah
August 26, 2015
To PvL:
indeed, our govt has signed many treaties giving away our democratic rights, all without consulting us. They really are true dictatorial pro-EU conspirators.
August 26, 2015
Yes, originally. But we had a “renegotiation” and referendum in 1975. This being the last time we were ever consulted directly over the Common Market/ EEC/ EC/ EU. We are well overdue a further say on our status.
August 26, 2015
The Australian model works beautifully. And I’m also somewhat disturbed the right honorable member doesn’t know the name of the bloody ship. Disturbed, not surprised.
August 26, 2015
Despite all that. It ‘s not working is it. They continue to get in knowing once here they will never be forced to leave.
Watch what happens to the Sudanese guy who was arrested for walking through the tunnel. He’s been to court in England. He’ll be set free by that court and will stay.
Some years ago, under Labour Gov. we even had Afghans who hijacked a plane land in England and were granted ‘asylum’
August 26, 2015
All very laudable and full credit to the government for at least trying to tackle the problem. It is doubtful though whether it will accomplish much as we know from experience of the drug trade that however much effort is put into stopping it it does not. The drugs keep coming and so will the immigrants. We could at least legalise drugs which in my opinion would be a much more practical way of controlling it and I see considerable benefits in doing so. At least the resources which are considerable that are currently expended on fighting the drug trade would be more useful used elsewhere some even diverted to help solve the immigration problem.
The UK at least has the Channel and a Conservative government (Labour would no doubt be thinking about potential voters and let large numbers of immigrants in) which for now are acting as barriers and keeping the immigrants out. However humans are innovative especially desperate ones and will in time find ways to overcome both. The only way to stem the flow is to make the UK an unattractive place for immigrants to come to and that means tackling the EU and UN laws that forbid us in doing so.
August 26, 2015
Well put. Your closing sentence is the key: our national borders and our immigration policy are our business, and if any international treaties or understandings impede our control over these fundamental things then we should repudiate these forthwith. Anything less undermines our sovereignty and our social cohesion, and is utterly unacceptable.
Alas, one doubts both the ability and, ultimately, the readiness of our leaders to act with boldness, conviction and patriotism in this matter. They tinker with the symptoms instead of tackling the root causes: they insult us by issuing cynical press releases pretending that they are taking meaningful action.
August 26, 2015
But we don’t have our sovereignty anymore. Sometime ago we passed the 50% law making ability in this Country to the unelected bureaucrats known as the EU Commission. Just like they keep telling us to bailout the Greeks etc. when CMD had claimed an exemption. A further claim in the reduction in the EU budget when we end up paying more. The vetoing of a treaty that didn’t exist and we won’t pay that surcharge on 1st December. No, we’ll pay the billion later, after all it is just English peoples taxes they’re wasting! Our Government is a pretence and a farce whilst we’re tied to the dictatorship.
August 26, 2015
A letter full of ‘good intentions’. Plans to prepare plans. Nothing will be done. An exercise in bullshit baffling brains.
August 26, 2015
Brian
“A letter full of good intentions”
Absolutely, and from a man who we are told, has never ever visited the problem area himself.
Indeed even our Home Secretary has visited only once ( a selected tour no doubt) just a few days ago.
If I was in his position I would have booked myself on a standard return ticket to France, just to see what an ordinary person can see without any special minders, I would then have asked one of our transport companies to allow me to sit as a drivers buddy on a return trip, again without minders.
Having then seen what really goes on, I would then arrange an official visit and cut through the crap excuses and specially selected viewing areas to try and resolve to do something practical.
To read this letter you would really think the government believe they have got a real grip on the problem, I know it is not easy, as you are looking at stopping desperate people, but when coming back from France by car earlier this year, not one caravan or motor home even had its doors opened to be searched !
Yes all well and good for sophisticated detectors to be used on “some vehicles” but why not actually search every one !
This is after all, a war against infiltration.
If manpower is a real problem, then hire some more people, or even better do not make so many of our armed forces redundant.
These people are already vetted and trained in security.
August 26, 2015
Alan,
The only conclusion is that the government is happy to tolerate this situation.
August 26, 2015
Brian,
Or indeed pretend it isn’t happening. I’ve been to Witney and surrounding areas many times – unavoidable when you go to Brize Norton as often as I do. It would be very easy, I’d imagine, to ignore the whole issue if you go from Downing St to Chequers to Witney, and everywhere else in a helicopter or a tinted limo. Maybe all of us who comment here should take a week off, drive to Kent, and ferry all the illegals to Witney and drop them there. Maybe then it might start to get through a bit.
While the PM’s in Cornwall he might consider driving up the south coast and into Devon and Dorset and speak to all those involved in the fishing industry how they feel about all this.
August 26, 2015
Your suggestion for a unpublicised visit by the Minister is a good one, but I have noticed that most politicians are averse to putting themselves in ‘danger’ mixing with the general public. They always require Minders and a camera to record the visit, and to hear their pearls of wisdom. They are careful to only be associated with success. The vast majority live in a protected bubble that most of us can only dream about. Not for them the potential danger of public transport late at night. They have their cars and drivers and Parliament is surrounded by many Police. My handbag was searched three times when I paid a visit. In my opinion they should all have to do an ‘apprenticeship’ for six months in the roughest part of the inner cities, so they have some experience of how the other half live!
August 26, 2015
Indeed, entirely agree. All waffle and inaction! After all they’ve had over 5 years already and remember it took to the end of August for Ms May to just visit Calais. Utterly absurd. CMD promised the 10’s of thousands and ended up with over 650,000 in one year alone! He told us not to vote for him if he didn’t succeed. That’s the only advice I’ve ever followed or will from him.
August 26, 2015
So the Schengen/Dublin Agreements come around to cost us both money and effort with attached threat. The EU is truly a curse and will remain so. Acquiring a government of integrity in any of the countries that dump on us is almost impossible.
Rather than finance the EU (France) we likely need something like a Home Guard all around our coast including naval/air patrols. It gets closer to the Chain Home radar systems principle post war…as mad as that sounds.
(words left out ed)
Is imprisoning both employers of illegal immigrants and the immigrants going to work? Won’t the prisons have to be cleared of resident offenders such as TV tax evaders etc first?
Who dreams all this junk up?
World Service last night..invader on Lesbos asks us to be patient and to stop the wars first. He didn’t know (a medical student allegedly) that we largely created them. Obviously doesn’t listen to the BBC (the worlds radio station) and TBH I am not too surprised.
August 26, 2015
Waffle sheer waffle. Regurgitating the same platitudes annually will have no effect on immigration figures. But that’s the idea isn’t it. All 3 parties are wedded to open door immigration. When we have the next 9/11 we will be assured lessons have been learned.
Last throw of the dice John. No ifs no buts.
August 26, 2015
Ian,
Agreed. The mainstream politicians take us for fools. Only care about their own party’s fortunes.
August 26, 2015
How many times have people to be told we can’t have immigration control and be in the EU under free movement rules. Then we’re repeatedly told we can’t discriminate against fellow Europeans on anything. That’s why we don’t have our sovereignty as our own Government are no longer that but mere vassals for the unelected Commission.
August 26, 2015
“…. a Merlin helicopter”
Forget the helicopter (singular) . England needs Merlin . Urgently .
August 26, 2015
British Navy picking illegal migrants up in the Med to return them to Africa? No, to drop them off in Italy for onward journey to Calais and England! Truly stupidity at its worst. I’m glad I and 4000,000 others didn’t vote for this incompetence!
August 26, 2015
me too!
August 26, 2015
The only pull-factor currently addressed, inadvertently, by the Government is the closure of Kid’s Company, the prime focus of which seems to have been the support of non-documented migrants in South London (& which no doubt helped contribute to the fact that Peckham now has the highest concentration of African churches (some 240) of anywhere outside the continent). The Kid’s Company ‘self-refering client’ model is, however, alive & well in all of these huge streams of migrants making their way through Europe, buoyed by the BBC’s empathetic coverage & supported by the industry of NGOs, law firms & activists that are busy informing them of their rights & what to demand of the UK Government on arrival.
The big economic story is not the collapse of the Chinese bubble but the continuing bubble of the UK economy, the growth of which continues to be driven by cheap credit, property & buy to let speculation (supported by migrant driven housing demand), overpaid non-jobs in the public & voluntary sectors & the inclusion of the criminal economy of drugs & prostitution in our official economic stats.
This Government is just as guilty as Blair/Brown’s of economic sleight of hand & fudging the stats (2% Defence spend, anyone?) and its only negotiating strategy when dealing with the EU on anything is, how can I put the smile back on the faces of the people on the other side of the tableh. National interest ? Nein, Danke.
August 26, 2015
HMS Bulwark for crying out loud. Bulwalk? For goodness sake, this is a minister of the crown.
If we don’t opt out of large parts of the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees and sections of the Geneva Convention as well as the ECHR then the present will soon be another country, let alone the past.
Demography is destiny.
August 26, 2015
Shouldn’t be hard to remember as we only have half a dozen ships after the shysters in power scrapped half the fleet. he should be able to quote the reg. numbers of all RAF planes as there are so few.
I have the sense we are reaching the last few years of the Roman Empire. Death and destruction to follow.
August 26, 2015
Your all spineless, Gutless. This has been happening for many years now and will not stop!
Our county needs a Donald Trump, someone that cares for the people and country, a none politician, no agenda but to make his country great again and rich.
We seem to be heading backwards, look around our cities, some look like a third world with people living anywhere they can find. This Immigration will bite you all in the backside, mark my words. Before you all call me names, I have a very mixed family and they share my view too.
August 26, 2015
ā¦and all we are doing is pretending. Pretending the housing shortage and school place shortage is not due to immigrationā¦pretending that we can control or borders when we are not allowed toā¦.pretending our MP and ministers have power when they have given it awayā¦pretending that women are attacked on trains because the UK male has inexplicably become a letchā¦
August 26, 2015
Sean – The Tories have five long years to get through without it all going tits up on their watch.
This could do for Cameron’s Tories what the ERM did for Major’s. The LibDems were a useful cover – now there is no one else to blame.
August 26, 2015
When will we see a copy of a letter setting out the results of past government initiatives and actions? Years ago (Blair was still PM) I wrote to my MP about illegal immigration and he forwarded to me the reply he got from the then Labour minister reposonsible for immigration. She said many of the same things we hear now.
So my questions are these:
In the past year how many gangs have been identified and busted?
How many gang bosses are now in prision? Or dead?
How many illegals have been repatriated?
How many are held in detention centres waiting appeals/repatriation?
How many undetected illegals are there estimated to be in the UK (to the nearest 100,000 will do for the estimate)?
The answers to these questions will give us some idea just how effective past measures have been.
August 26, 2015
It’s easy to dismiss this letter as a load of waffle, but if it shows just how complex the management of our border controls has become.
When I started as an immigration officer in 1979 operating border controls was relatively straightforward. A person refused entry was almost always returned whence they came immediately or within a day or two. It became a bit more complicated when some MPs began to intervene in cases irrespective of the credibilityof the person seeking entry. Once a reliable system for handling MPs reps was in place, asylum became the route of choice to avoid refusal under the Immigration Rules .
This latter manoeuvre has been combined with the seeking of judicial review even in hopeless cases. The response to detailed judicial oversight has been evermore detailed procedures designed to to satisfy judges that we operate fairly, but it has also caused bureaucratic inertia since it has became extremely difficult to deliver removals quickly, and which has made detention for removal difficult. We are no longer able to use detention effectively and we use up increasing amounts of accommodation to deliver fewer removals.
The big issue which has caused us to rely on border controls in France is that once applicants arrive in the UK we struggle to deliver removals quickly because of the intensity of the judicial oversight of the border control system. Unless we can mange a better arrangement with the courts all the plans in the world are going to be somewhere between difficult and impossible to deliver.
All the hot air, frustration and anger that this situation generates won’t change a thing if we wish to remain a country which observes the rule of law.
Reply Indeed. The Minister finds that quite often deportation is stopped at the last minute by a judge allowing an intervention after the government feels the case is settled.
August 26, 2015
Well that’s easy, you are there to make/amend the rules. Withdraw from the conventions and protocols and grow a pair. Excuses, excuses. ENOUGH.
August 26, 2015
Yesterday Germany unilaterally changed the Dublin Convention and no one seemed to mind , so the precedent has been set. When we get some mealy politician saying we we can’t do this because we are bound by a protocol, and we can’t do that because a convention says we can’t, we can say to them ‘yes you can… its just that you don’t want to’!
August 26, 2015
Please read it as ‘mealy mouthed’ thanks.
August 26, 2015
Reply to reply,
If our Parliament made all our laws instead of allowing Brussels to make them then we could have some control.
August 27, 2015
The UK political class is all in favour of high levels of immigration, leaving Europe won’t fix that.
August 26, 2015
Reply-reply
Whilst I agree there are legal processes which have to be gone through, remember it is Governments who make the law, not judges who should just implement it.
Surely the simple solution to all of this is to make the law rather more simple and straight forward.
Border Boy makes some very commonness comments with experience learned on the job.
So why is he and people like him, who are at the sharp end, and have first hand experience of such matters, not sought out for their opinions by those who have the power to change things, instead of listening to their so called advisors who all seem to live in comfy offices well distanced from reality.
The Government can change things, please just get on and do it. !
Sometimes politicians just need to get out and make an effort to meet people on a regular basis, not just at election times.
Reply That is what the Mini9ster says he is doing, with new UK legislation coming forward. However, we still are under the EU and UN frameworks which our judges can appeal to.
August 26, 2015
Further to my earlier post (still in moderation)
Ministers really do need to get out and about on a regular basis with random unannounced visits to see reality.
Official visits are all well and good, but all you will see is fiction where everything has been sanitised, and the air is filled with the smell of new paint.
It really is no wonder so many in power do not have a clue.
August 26, 2015
I realise that the liberal establishment and its agencies are only too keen to further the implementation of UN world governance -quite often surreptitiously,but what is the force of law behind “UN frameworks”?Other permanent members of the Security Council are doing nothing,either practically or financially,to alleviate the problem.
August 26, 2015
Then legislate to change the system from the “do gooders” who have wrecked my Country and continue to do so. Everyone out here in the real world is saying it. Our culture and heritage is vanishing before our eyes and within a generation. Anyone would think it was a deliberate ploy to stop a belief in the Nation state to create a United States of Europe!
August 26, 2015
Border Boy – The deceptionby Govnerment is easy to see.
The focus is on illegal immigration. To give the impression that they are engaged in a great struggle for our country.
The real problem is perfectly LEGAL and uncontrolled mass immigration – with which the Tories seem to have no problem but would like to divert your attention from. (Legal entry is the channel by which most of the boat people will arrive here once they are granted EU citizenship anyway.)
This Tory (allegedly) Government has just broken records on immigration and will continue to smash them for the rest of the term.
We who voted UKIP tried to warn you what they are really like.
August 26, 2015
Response to JR’s rely.
Last minute judicial review applications are a deliberate tactic developed by some ideologically motivated solicitors. It complicates immeasurably the effective use of detention beds and makes a mess of airline schedules – baggage has to be unloaded etc.
We tried to get judges , through the Lord Chancellor, not to intervene at this late stage (often 10 minutes before departure) but while they accept these tactics might be an abuse if process they were concerned that some of the reps might be genuine and thus had to be considered while the applicant was in the UK.
The latest ploy, I understand, is to send the refused asylum seeker without legal aid to the High Court as a “litigant in person.” This is meant to gum up up the courts and it does. The knock-on consequences for detention, case handling and removal are predictably difficult. But that is the intention I am afraid. Unless we can take the courts out of the equation at the last minute we are going to left looking impotent.
August 26, 2015
All that is being done once they get to our shores is simply over-ridden by the Human Rights Legislation, which now apparently takes precedence over all other legislation. As a start, we might stop funding lawyers to take non-citizens’ cases to court. Let charities raise the money from those who favour mass immigration if they feel a lawyer is needed.
Taking just one of points listed:
“stopping migrants using public services to which they are not entitled”:
Sorry, but their Human Rights insist that they can have major operations on the NHS; their Human Rights prevent us from letting them starve; any children born here are British, so it’s the parents’ Human Rights to stay with their child.
The list is endless; when I see the Immigration Minister publishing weekly figures of unwanted immigrants being deported from the country, I might believe that the government is actually doing something.
Meanwhile, I consider the probability of seeing a squadron of pigs flying over my home is somewhat higher than real action by the government to deport unwanted immigrants!
August 26, 2015
“any children born here are British”
This used to be the case – I understand this was abolished some time ago.
August 26, 2015
More than “some time ago”. The new law became effective on 1 January 1983, at least for all children born of “EU parents”. The children, in that case, keep their parents’ citizenship.
It might be good if people were checking the facts…
August 26, 2015
A child born today in the UK will only have British citizenship if at least one of their parents is a British citizen or was living in the UK with permission to stay here permanently. So anyone with leave to remain @ Hefner which is not difficult to obtain (see below for more on EU immigrants). EU immigrants can apply for citizenship by passing the life in the UK test or moving up one level of IELTS in one year.
Children Born to Citizens of the European Economic Area
Children born in the UK to citizens of the European Economic Area may be British citizens depending on when they were born. Children born:
From 1 January 1983 to 2 October 2000 will be British citizens if either parent was living in the UK at the time;
From 2 October 2000 to 29 April 2006 will only be British citizens if at least one parent had obtained indefinite leave to remain or the unconditional right to permanent residence in the UK prior to the birth;
On or after 30 April 2006 will be British citizens if at least one parent lived in the UK continuously for five years pursuant to their rights under European law prior to the birth.
Similar rules apply to children of Swiss citizens born in the UK from 1 June 2002 onwards.
So @ Hef not quite given away with a pack of cornflakes but not unduly prohibitive for anyone living here on housing benefit and tax credits who is doing well enough to stay here rather than going home.
How many immigrants (unrelated by blood or marriage) do you have living with you?
August 27, 2015
None!
August 27, 2015
@Hef
Why not if they are such a benefit to society and worthy of our largesse?
You do talk a good game, I’ll give you that.
August 26, 2015
Reading the last 16 comments John, can I politely suggest that people are well and truly pi—–d off about the whole immigration issue. They are fed up with words and want to see some really worthwhile action. It is no good ‘dealing’ with the situation once they are on European soil. One way or another they will stay and many will come to the UK for the freebies provided, as usual, by the exasperated tax payers. People who work really hard for their pittance only to look around and see immigrants getting housing and other benefits the minute they land. We have people on housing waiting lists that have been waiting for years for decent accommodation. They would be better off being illegal immigrants!
As for this sentence, “The UK sent HMS Bulwalk, with helicopters and border patrol ships, as part of the international rescue effort. Since then tens of thousands of lives have been saved, around 5,000 by UK assets alone.’ etc ed
Reply The right course of action is to return rescued economic migrants to the last safe country they left.
August 26, 2015
Reply to reply. That will not solve the problem. The problem is that they are in Europe in the first place brought about by European policy of search and rescue! The only way out of this is Brexit!
August 26, 2015
Please note that the use of ‘economic migrants’ only here in this ‘reply’. Of course such should be sent back, but it’s easy to say just that, without suggesting the means. He daren’t say or will not wish to be more robust and demand rigorous interrogation and checking of all those who swarm across the Med, with their immediate return, and in secure holding camps until.
The word refugee has been expanded to mean just about everyone who wishes to get over – deliberate, and convenient for those in positions of influence who are too weak to speak out and act on what is right and the views of just about everyone here. Without determined action the problem will go on and on. And let’s face it, the vast majority are ‘pulling the wool’ over the eyes of the naĆÆve and gullible, ie. those who run our affairs against our best interests. Just how many are sent back? If were to answer my own question I would say ‘zero’.
It is his government which helps anyone and everyone on their way over with ships of the Royal Navy.
August 26, 2015
Why are the rescue ships patrolling in Libian waters just off there coast line. Why rush in when there is an alert of boats floundering, surely they shoukd be taken by the Libian navy!!
where are all of these rubber boats coming from it might be a good idea to find out. Stop the sale at source.
August 26, 2015
When I look at the way the EU, and to a lesser extent the UK deal with this problem, I’m afraid the words ‘headless chicken’ come to mind.
August 26, 2015
A letter typical of political vacuousness over the last couple of decades. Lots of “we must”, lots of “we should”, lots of “if we’re allowed to”, lots of “we support” but not a single, tangible, actionable, policy. We must assume that they are in fact not going to change very much at all other than feed stories to the media.
August 26, 2015
That’s because this letter is written by someone who can’t take decisions, reporting to someone who can’t take decisions, written to someone who can’t take decisions.
August 26, 2015
And when they do make a decision it is normally not what the majority of us are asking for.
August 26, 2015
PS To Letter
I’m too busy implementing EU regulations so I hope that the above offering from one of my office juniors will fob you off sufficiently until another few hundred thousand migrants can join us to enrich our culture further.
Your chum Jimmi
August 26, 2015
Graham,
Quite. Could have been taken straight from ‘Yes Minister’. Nothing changes, which is of course how they want it.
August 26, 2015
Quite right that the Immigration Minister states: āwe must remove the perception that getting on a boat will lead to automatic settlement in the EU.ā
However I think this message needs to be far more assertive.
Australiaās stricter policy not only reduced immigration, it also continues to save countless lives.
The eu policy is deadly and is therefore immoral and this should be publicly and assertively pointed out to them, as every week more people die.
August 26, 2015
German policy is what counts. Just recently it has emerged that what M’s Merkel wants M’s Merkel gets with the assistance of our Presidents Junker and Holland’s. Messrs Cameron and Osborne do as they are told and obviously have no seat or voice at the top table. Just pay up the English taxes!
August 26, 2015
They canāt come here. And they canāt go back. So simple logic tells us they must be provided for somewhere else in a secure and decently run refugee camp. We cannot rely on anyone else to do this for us, and if we want a humane and practical solution, as I believe most British people do, we have to do it where we have control but a long way from the UK itself to ensure containment.
Now I have never visited the Falklands so I could be mistaken, but at first sight they would appear to make an ideal location for such a refugee camp. Of course it will be expensive, but not half as expensive as any acceptable alternative, and it could be paid for, pro-tem at least, out of our overseas aid budget. Nor do we have to wait for the EU to sort itself out. We can get on with it unilaterally and immediately. Both genuine refugees and economic migrants to the UK could go there straight from Calais or wherever they are found, with the paperwork and appeals sorted out en route by ship or after they arrive.
The Falklands are large enough for this not to be an unwelcome imposition on the islanders, though I am not sure about the terrain. And its not as though they don’t owe us anyway (and it would be one in the eye for the Argies!). The inmates could be given a small allowance to enable a local in-camp economy to develop which would, through trade, be of benefit to the islanders as well. They would eventually be taken back directly to their home countries, with new passports obtained for them where necessary, when they themselves decided they wanted to go.
Reply Neither the Falkland islanders nor the refugees would want this. The Falklands community is very small and it would be difficult to create a large new town there on the scale you have in mind.
August 26, 2015
Reply to reply.
I agree that the Falklands may not be a good place for this, but the principle is sound.
We need to find host countries that are happy to see several new cities and towns built within their borders to house immigrants. Of course we will have to pay for this and it will not be cheap. The host countries must benefit from new infrastructure and new arrivals and therefore be happy to see them.
Such a scheme must ensure that former enemies are not lumped together nor cultures that have little in common. The last thing they need is to have āmulticulturalismā foisted upon them.
We donāt need to wait for the eu extremists in order to do this. We can do this right now in co-operation with other like-minded countries.
August 26, 2015
Kenneth
Greece have hundreds of Islands, the EU could pay Greece a sum on the proviso that immigrants remain for a few years.
It may help the Greeks financially as well instead of them asking for loans.
Would also help the greek unemployment rate as well as these immigrants would need people to oversee them.
Three birds with one stone, and its still nice and warm for them. !!!!
August 27, 2015
Alan, thatās the best idea Iāve heard for a long time.
August 26, 2015
And we don’t want them here. England is the most populated place in Europe now and inviting in millions of whatever you want to call them will not help. We already have large towns that have been taken over by people from other countries. Can we have our country back please?
August 26, 2015
There are plenty of empty island off the coast of Scotland. Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon think we should welcome them all with open arms. How about starting here??
August 26, 2015
We do want them here. And plumbers. Bricklayers as well. How are we expected to run our businesses and make money if the people available out there have little or no skills.?
August 26, 2015
John,
No need to look anywhere as far as the Falklands. Sturgeon says she welcomes immigration. There are several islands off the coast of Scotland which would be ideal for what you suggest! And many open spaces in the north of Scotland which could accommodate the numbers we’re speaking of. That’s what they do in Norway – send em up to the arctic where there’s no sun and where the jobs are all taken by the locals. They never seem to stay that long…..
August 26, 2015
I see in today’s DT that there are now 8 million foreigners living in the UK and, no doubt, another several hundred thousands to be added to the score each year. How many of them will acquire the right to a vote at local or national level, and will that at some point lead to irreversible changes to the way we are governed as more of them move up into local or even perhaps national government levels?
Overall, I cannot see the inward tide of immigrants deliberately and with malice aforethought started by Labour ever diminishing, despite all efforts to bring it under some semblance of control and wonder if it is actually the case that the EU seemingly does little to control the situation because it fits into their ideas that the individual nations must, whatever the cost, be transformed into little more than states governed by unelected EU commissioners and a toothless joke of an EU parliament?
August 26, 2015
The comprehensive response from Brokenshire would suggest that we have in place fool-proof methods to restrict and prevent illegal immigration ; be this as it may , it is not foolproof and it is not working .
The ECHR has put a stop to Theresa Mays’ efforts and made a mockery of our sovereignty . If we have to have control over all the things that affect our way of life and , above all , our independence , then one of the first things to be done is to disregard the ECHR . The EU directly and indirectly has brought about a dissent in this country that has escalated to a point of public unrest ; it cannot continue like this because the ensuing degree of hatred is spreading across the world . Every country in the world should manage its own affairs ; outsiders must recognise this to maintain international stability .
The EU now faces many critical conditions of differences and voices have risen publicly against the central conditions imposed ; the impetus of rejection grows and will not stop unless national integrity is restored . Greece has recently been an example of how public resentment has reacted to bureaucracy ; it ought to be a wake up call to the central interferers . On top of their economic break-down they now face the difficulty of not being able to prevent immigrants arriving ; they ought to be able to deal with this crisis in their own way and not have to adopt the imposition of “free movement”.
August 26, 2015
One can have little faith in a land surrounded by very cold water with a Government who failed and still fails to defend our borders.
What legal means in a very poor war torn country where every owned asset is unsaleable does anyone have of paying many thousands of pounds for legitimate travelling costs and illegal fees to traffickers, plus ongoing food costs over months? None of course.
HMS Enterprise should like HMS Bulwalk be brought back to the UK for “scheduled maintenance ” and a word made to the Irish Government to withdraw its ships unless it intends to deliver the foreign criminals to an Irish port.
August 26, 2015
‘Security of the UK border is our priority.’
I’m sorry, but it doesn’t appear that this is the case at all. Your priority seems to be to consult, discuss and comply with EU law while fobbing off the public.
August 26, 2015
The Governments priority is giving away Ā£26 billions a year in EU and foreign aid and providing free health, housing and education for the 8000000 million and rising who weren’t even born here. Build on the greenbelt anyone?
August 26, 2015
… Equivalent to roughly the population of one thousand planet Earth?
Try to check your facts (bis repetita placent).
August 26, 2015
Sadly a lot of this is our own fault we got involved in civil wars which are none of our business. Libya a classic example now a failed sate Syria too and Iraq. We have to fight wars but they should have a defendable stable outcome.
The immigration problem will not stop unless we take a tougher line on what are basically economic immigrants from several countries namely north Africa. There was a classic TV interview were one potential Calais immigrant was given a mobile phone he phoned home to be given grief because he was not sending money home from employment in the UK – that is an economic migrant
Why are we rescuing people from the MED? the people smugglers put people on boats send out distress call and the immigrants are kindly picked by EU navies. You may as well send planes over to Libya and collect them. Sorry but we should abandon this ferry service.
August 26, 2015
“The immigration problem will not stop unless we take a tougher line”
And that requires a political class who are up to the job of tackling the problem, and they aren’t.
They won’t deal with the free movement of people, meaning that many of the 800,000 asylum seekers getting papers in Germany will end up here.
They won’t deal with Human Rights Act , that allows illegals to run rings around us.
They won’t deal with the unworkable 1951 UN Convention for Refugees.
And they can’t even do the most simplest of things, like counting people in and out of the country.
August 26, 2015
Too right.
August 26, 2015
I feel totally exasperated by the whole situation.
We keep hearing things like “they won’t be allowed to use public services” and “they won’t get benefits or housing”. What are you going to do? Let them starve to death? Let them bleed to death? Of course not.
Until we have a PM with the sand to stand up for his own people rather than looking after himself and his party’s interests nothing will change.
As someone else has already said today, people are really p***d off with this now. What happened about the business whereby the govt was told it would have to impose the 4-year no benefits law on its own people? That’s all gone very quiet.
I don’t know how many of your parliamentary colleagues – of all political persuasions – are aware of all this, but someone needs to do something now, someone who has the minerals to put aside party interests and do something for the people who elected them, and more importantly, for the sake of the generations to come. Our businesses are losing hundreds of thousands purely because of delays at Calais. This has got to stop. And the only way it will stop is if the govt sticks two fingers up to EU rules and starts being really, really tough.
etc ed.
August 26, 2015
totally agree with your comments. We must do something and soon before many businesses go broke and we have unlimited immigrants to look after on our very small island.
August 26, 2015
Cant wait for JRs reply – then we will know where we all stand
August 26, 2015
This letter is all Handbook stuff, isn’t it? Like the real world is a million miles away.
Also on TV this man reminds me of what I’d expect Ed Miliband’s apprentice at the photocopier machine to sound and look like.
The more you see, the more you hear, the more UKIP’s stronger plans from experienced people rather than schoolkids would have been the solution. It’s almost too late now.
August 26, 2015
Not too late to vote UKIP or to vote NO to staying in Europe. It is the only way to take matters into our own hands.
August 26, 2015
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/455162/Joint_declaration_20_August_2015.pdf
Here is a copy of the joint declaration from the gov.uk website. The mistakes (which others and you have commented on) in the letter sent to you are rather sloppy bearing in mind the importance of the subject. This will not be solved easily and we are seeing uncontrollable migratory movements which will increase and not decrease. The ‘rescue’ operation actually encouraged more traffic as it guaranteed effective safe passage to the UK.
zorro
August 26, 2015
He should be deselected as MP and asked to stand as MEP for the South East of England.
August 26, 2015
John, the minister’s words are directly contradicted by Mr Cameron, who thinks that illegal immigrants should not be deported, but put into British jails!! – at a cost of 40-60,000 per person per annum. Will the asylum seeker’s home countries be footing this bill? Of course I know the answer to this, the long-suffering British taxpayer will be, while our hospitals, schools and transport systems cut corners to stay open.
August 26, 2015
No!
That is beyond mad.
I think 5 years might be 4 years too long for this man.
August 26, 2015
What will it take for politicians to realise that they no longer have a free hand to do what they like and say it is in our name.
On immigration we must have the will to whatever it takes to prevent immigrants reaching this country and acquiring any rights to stay. Our humanity is being used against us as a weapon – “Oh the British won’t do anything abouut it” . Pregnant women and children are pushed to the forefront of a guarded border in Macedonia, Hungary etc , without conscience to enhance humanitarian blackmail.
Under no circumstances should HMS Bulwark be rescuing migrants and taking them to Europe. The only destination permitted should be the North African coast, via landing craft if necessary, otherwise withdraw the ship. Only when migrants realise that the attempts
Any illegal immigrants found in the UK should be deported without appeal and if necessary a judgement made about their likely nationality.
Our politicians have to realise that the transient opinions of other politicians at home or abroad, each with their own agendas and interests, come a poor last to the opinions of their own electorate.
August 26, 2015
Before the awful May quarterly immigration stats we got Cameron unveiling an illegal immigrant working bill.
With the August quarterly immigration stats due out tomorrow we get Cameron saying illegal immigrants working in Britain will face jail.
We also get Brokenshire dashing off a letter to Dr Redwood to land on his door step a day before numbers get released.
With some pre-emptive news management going on, I can only presume that the figures out tomorrow will be appalling.
Rather than having a Government that manages the news, it would be nice if we had a Government that Governed, and did what it promised.
August 26, 2015
To protect the UK and Europe, mass immigration must stop. The impact is detrimental to all UK citizens and the cost is astronomical. People who come to our shores with nothing, having giving their assets to smugglers, want money, clothing and housing – and they get it. If only the same could be said of our UK citizens who find themselves on hard times. I know this from experience. No shelter or hostel provided to a Brit. There is a flaw in the law that allows preference to immigrants in need over British citizens who have worked all their life and contributed to our Society, only to be told that they are not in peril if they find themselves on the street.
In May 2008, the only solution to homelessness from Harlow in Essex, was a tent. To add insult to injury, this had to be returned to the council each day. At the same time in the Harlow Travel Lodge, Polish immigrants were provided with free lodgings. Why, was this not available to a Brit, born and bred. Apparently, their need was greater.
The EU has made this situation worse, and only when we leave the EU, will the borders be better controlled. The politicians will not have to be afraid of upsetting their EU counterparts. Of course. It will still take years. Our government cannot do anything quickly. The West has become very weak. We tolerate everything. The Churchill Spirit, is sadly vanishing in the UK. We were once a nation to be proud of and would get things done, even if we did get criticized by some. You cant be popular all the time. If you try to please everyone, you end up, upsetting the majority
August 26, 2015
Your posting sums up the situation perfectly. We must get back our pride and remember what our forefathers fought for. They fought for our liberty and our country and I am sure they would be horrified if they saw how their children and native citizens of Britain were being treated today. We have no rights and we pay for others to take our rights. I wish the electorate would do what was necessary to get out of this mess we find ourselves in.
August 26, 2015
No mention of the large numbers coming (on ed) uncapped ICT work visas and all the rest. Less than one in ten cars from Calais are stopped and checked, clearly a lot coming in hidden in the boots. Yet another complacent letter from a political class that really doesn’t care or understand how they are destroying the country. If this was the best I could do I would resign, not embark on more PR. Please don’t support the government on this, nobody else does.
August 26, 2015
Iain – Drawing the Parliamentary salary is indecent.
Especially if one was part of a government which had policies that demanded mass redundancies of common workers because they were no longer effective.
August 26, 2015
I assume most of the commentators here are Tory voters, in which case I’m pleased to see Tory voters now saying what the BNP were saying ten years ago. Better late than never. Though on second thoughts perhaps it is too late.
August 26, 2015
No, not the BNP but a sane party, UKIP
August 26, 2015
Indeed!
August 26, 2015
You mean ex-Tory voters.
August 26, 2015
“We need to treat the causes of this problem, not just deal with its consequences. Tackling this issue in the long term can only be done with a comprehensive solution. That means helping the countries where these people come from to reduce the push factors; build stability and create livelihoods … ”
Because the many decades that these countries have been running their own affairs – more in some cases, those which were never part of any European empire – have not been “long term” enough for them to sort themselves out; they will need another half century or more, a few more generations, to do that so that the “push factors” are eliminated. In the meantime, what do we do about the mass influxes which will continue year after year for all those decades to come, unless strong action is taken to stop them?
August 26, 2015
We spent millions of pounds and lost the lives a many of our Armed Serviced removing Sadam. We now have the failed State of Iraque.
We then moved into Afganistan. More death and very serious injuries to members of the Army and Air Force and lots more money from our Country.
In Lybia at least the loss of life was small but a State which had been corrupt has been turned into a disaster. More money Spent.
Our next brainwave was humanitarian. Would be migrants used need a boat which could make it ti Italy. Now they only need to get off the Lybian Coast and we will pull them out of the sea and take them all the way to Italy. From there they can make it to the Calais and we are forced to spend more money to stop them joining our Welfare State. We also have an expensive system to allow them to appeal through our Courts against expulsion from our Country. Our Politicians defend themselves from a charge of incompitance by claiming that they are having URGENT MEETINGS with are Partners.
I would like to see weekly figures of the number of illegals caught. AND the number actually deported. I would also like to see pictures on BBC News of Illegals being actually deported. It is only by Broadcasting this information that would be migrants can be detered from setting out for the “Promissed Land”
August 26, 2015
The BBC only broadcast warm and positive “And now – from the migrant’s point of view.” stories.
The truth is the migrant’s point of view is all we ever seem to get. I’ve yet to experience a BBC broadcast from OUR point of view on the subject.
August 26, 2015
Interesting letter with some worthy ideas, however it will be judged on results. To date the results are very bad, 600,000 plus immigrants last year resulting in a not born in the UK population of 8,000,000 to date, and little sign of the trend changing in any significant way. It will be further bolstered by a higher than average birth rate among immigrants and they are much more likely to be dependant upon our services in health, education, and housing.
Brockenshire , however sincere his sentiments, is hobbled by the determined policy of your leader to stay in the EU system that facilitates the problem and offers us no scope for a solution. I wonder how long it will be for your 200 or so fence sitting colleagues to wake up to the reality.
I am still of the belief that the UN needs to start thinking in terms of a refugee nation. I would rather see our overseas aid going towards the support of such a venture than the spurious uses to which it has been put in the past. The World is not short of open spaces which could be transformed, Israeli like, to create a home for these unfortunate people.
August 26, 2015
Why has parliament not passed legislation to remove any legal impediments to ensure the targets are met? Indeed you should be kept in permanent session until the targets are met? (No food, just water)
Why are MP’s and parliament and government so accepting of the status quo? Its almost as they have given in?
Start by directing the Supreme Court to review interpretations which are contrary to the will of parliament? Changing laws unilaterally as needed.
Just out of interest how long would the food last to feed our population if we could not import food reliably.
This is not a country , its not a democracy, but a system designed to avoid answering to us the sovereign people.
With direct democracy, recall and popular referenda we probably would not be in this ghastly and dangerous situation?
With any luck by the time we have a vote, you may well have changed the electorate sufficiently? It will then be job done.
One of 4 million with no representation but with a clear conscience on this. (compare that with SNP)
I merely want to know which country i can claim asylum, get fed , get housing etc. It may well be Scotland. Crikey we do not even look after our own. Its very wrong.
Just what are you going to do to stop the illegals after they arrive or after they gain EU papers? Its nuts!
Reply The new Bill needed drafting so could not be put to Parliament in July. I agree they should get on with it.
August 26, 2015
All I could think after reading the ministers letter was “Thank God I will be able to sleep safely in my bed tonight knowing what he is doing”
Then the reality check and like everybody who has commented it is all a load of tosh.
Nothing will be done because in the real world (our world) they have not got a clue.
Address the problems. Thats good for a laugh. If we had full control over our borders and reduce the authority of the human rights lobby and just send them staright back from whence they came that will help address the problems.
When will CMD wake up and smell the coffee. It’s simple it is in the name. UK Government. Start thinking about the impact on the UK population and address it.
Surely that is not too much to ask?
August 27, 2015
John, Dominic Cummings in his blog did a bit about immigration recently you should read, drawing attention to the difference between our politicians and BBC and real people struggling to get by in areas swamped by immigration.
The real people need to be heard.
August 28, 2015
‘We also need a Government in Libya that we can work with to address this problem as the majority of people are travelling through that country.’
No, Minister, no, your thinking is emasculated. The absence of effective government means that there is no power in that land to prevent coercive return of illegal immigrants. It is therefore possible for EU navies to intercept all craft leaving the North African shore-line and return them. Migrants recently arrived in the EU from anywhere else can safely be landed in Libya without sanction; this should be done as a matter of policy. It is essential to break the value proposition of the criminal gangs that operate the trade in illegal immigration. Until EU governments have the will to defend their countries greater than the will of the illegals to defeat the system the influx will continue unabated. Forget the legislative constraints and look at the problem from a practical perspective.