Housing need and numbers

The tensions between those who need a home of their own backed by the Ā house builders and developers and those who worry about the pressures on local schools, surgeries, hospitals and green spaces have become acute in the last two decades. The yearly arrival of more than 250,000 additional people needing homes compared with the 50,000 a year in the 1980s Ā has required a big increase in building. There is also the demand from people already settled here as grown up children seek a home of their own and divorced people who need a home each. This is partly offset by elderly people vacating homes if they need to go into a care home or die, and by some single people choosing Ā to share a home with a partner.

Today there is a new tension over the decision on CV 19 health policy grounds to house illegal migrants in hotels rather than other housing, with many writing to MPs criticising the costs and the diversion of hotels from more traditional uses.

The position could be improved if the authorities had more success in preventing illegal migration . Most of us condemn people trafficking. Ministers Ā want the profiteers arrested and taken out of circulation. Their businesses should be stopped. When will more success be announced?

It is also right to choke off most businesses being able to import cheap cut price Labour all the time there is a domestic option. In some cases shortages will need better pay and conditions and training programmes to meet our own demand.

I will be asking more questions about the development of the governments approach to skills, domestic recruitment of Labour and illegal migrants.

314 Comments

  1. Gorman
    November 5, 2021

    The usual Tory trickery, trying to tell poor people in this country who have suffered as a result of Tory cuts that they should blame desperate people in dinghies

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      November 5, 2021

      I don’t see how supposed cuts have affected house prices. You appear confused.

    2. Peter
      November 5, 2021

      Governments – conservative or labour – have absolutely no intention of doing anything about illegal immigration. They will make speeches and offer disingenuous promises about the issue.

      Meanwhile, they rely on the phlegmatic nature of the British people and hope there will be no vigilante action targeting the illegals.

    3. Cheshire Girl
      November 5, 2021

      Well, those people in dinghies will need to be housed, and for every house given to them, there will be one less for people who have been on the housing list, sometimes for years.

      Are they not supposed to be a bit resentful. After all, they were never asked if they would like to give up their place on the list, to someone who had just landed on our shores, often with no identification, from. a safe EU country.

    4. Andy
      November 5, 2021

      Indeed. We need more houses because of the ever increasing number of old people. These old people are mostly NIMBYS – meaning new houses never get built as granny always objects.

      In my nice little road of about 20 houses at least four of them are taken up by elderly women living alone. I know two of them lost their husbands – I donā€™t know about the others but I assume they did too.

      In every case there is one single elderly woman rattling around in a large detached house with several bedrooms and bathrooms – with the place to herself. Another 8 or 9 houses are taken up by pensioner couples. Again – massive houses with way too many rooms for 2 people.

      Meanwhile young families I know are unable to move up the property ladder because the top end of it is blocked by granny and gramps.

      If we built proper, fun, retirement facilities – Iā€™m thinking of a sort of Center Parcs for pensioners – we could free up masses of these houses for families.

      Itā€™d be better for granny too. You know she will eventually fall over in her big empty house – and then require months and most of hospital treatment, which we all have to pay for.

      But I know it is easier for old people to blame desperate brown people fleeing persecution than it is to look in a mirror.

      1. Peter2
        November 6, 2021

        Do the members of your family who are older than you know your extreme views Andy?

      2. Hope
        November 6, 2021

        Andy,
        Utter tosh. That old woman earned what she owns and is entitled to rattle around whatever she wants after paying so much tax throughout her life. It is not up to you or socialist Johnson to say what people can own! Idiot.

        1. Chris S
          November 6, 2021

          +1 !

      3. Cheshire Girl
        November 6, 2021

        I think I know the kind of retirement facilities you are thinking about.

        God help us all if you ever got into power! . Those streets would be no go zones for older people. You have a nerve, to say that someone should not continue, in their old age, to live in the house that they bought and paid for.

        In my darker moments, I cant help hoping that your old age will be as bleak as that which you wish on older people now. I am assuming you donā€™t have any older relatives. If so, my sympathies lie with them.

    5. Hope
      November 5, 2021

      No housing need, Tory mass immigration crisis. 18,000 boat people 46 arrests!

    6. Peter2
      November 5, 2021

      Can you only think in lefty banner headlines Gorman.
      The article was about housing shortages and listed many different reasons why there is such a shortage.

    7. Donna
      November 5, 2021

      No, they’re not desperate. They are not fleeing a war zone, they are voluntarily leaving nice, safe France and chancing their luck on a dangerous channel crossing. Although not as dangerous as it could be since this Government appears to effectively be running a free ferry service for them.

      1. Original Richard
        November 5, 2021

        Donna : “No, theyā€™re not desperate.”

        Many have paid traffickers large sums to transport them to the UK all the way from their own, safe vlliages/towns.

      2. Fedupsoutherner
        November 5, 2021

        @Donna. That free ferry service often includes VOLUNTEERS for the RNLI who are finding themselves working 24/7 picking these invaders up.

        1. graham1946
          November 6, 2021

          Whist Border Farce vessels remain tied up because it is too dangerous for them to venture out.

    8. LJONES
      November 5, 2021

      ”Desperate”, eh? Some, no doubt. Well, there are going to be a lot of ”desperate” people already in this country by next summer who have lost everything by exercising their freedom of choice in not getting ‘jabbed’. Perhaps they should join the other desperadoes who are coming across in dinghies, by taking a boat from Norfolk along the coast to Dover, and claiming their free accommodation, etc. That’d give them a new start, wouldn’t it?

    9. formula57
      November 5, 2021

      @ Gorman – and you offer the usual neo-Marxist trickery of deflecting criticism of the bogus asylum seekers, perhaps hoping an increase in numbers of such will exacerbate problems to promote social breakdown from which you can profit.

      (You might have a point that living in France is a desperate plight, specially under Macron rule.)

    10. a-tracy
      November 5, 2021

      Gorman, which cuts have affected housing?
      There is more spending annually than ever, more of our taxes are required and more borrowing. Just how much will ever be enough!

    11. Enrico
      November 5, 2021

      Gorman the poor people of this country do not get to reside in 4/5 * hotels and given meals for and cash in their pockets on a weekly basis.

      1. Enrico
        November 5, 2021

        Foc and not for.

    12. Footprint
      November 5, 2021

      Sir John writes “children seek a home of their own”
      I’m not sure if he means owner occupier, rented house/flat or even a rented room.
      However, I was watching the Marc Dolan programme on GB TV last night and they were discussing the housing question, the shortages and high prices and pointed out that less and less people were financially able enough to “get on the housing ladder”
      In fact the general view amongst the four discussing the issue, was “who wants or needs to own a home anyway” and after all renting was perfectly usual and acceptable on the Continent.

      Maybe so, but in my opinion it is not acceptable here.we bought our first Maisonette in 1966 when I was 31, I am now 86 and despite many life’s ups and downs I am still in possession of my own dwelling. It does have a bit of a “lived in appearance “, but it is all mine.

      I have alway.s regarded my house as my working capital or. Fall back if things go dreadfully wrong., thank goodness they never have and if I am lucky enough not to have to sell it to finance my demise a decent amount should “trickle down” To my children. Just the same as we have benefited from a bit of trickle down which have saved tricky situations and enabled us to fully finance our property to the end clear of debt.
      I know trickle down was Mrs Thatcher’s view and perhaps not popular now as being too Capitalist, but if this nation is ever to,prosper again, it is going to have to pay its way through the efforts of industry, new technologies and the rewarded enterprise of entrepreneurs .

      If it is generally the thought of a large section of the population that getting on is just promotion at work, but not the pecuniary fruits of endeavour and enterprise, exemplified by gaining Capital then I believe there is no hope for the country and a desire to rent is evidence of Lazy thinking or perhaps worship of the theory that the state can and will provide.

      Unfortunately I don’t see “ambition” in the present lexicon or perhaps responsibility to one’s family.

      There’s too many with too much shout dependent on the State for their jobs, livelihood and pension and the proportion of those to productive workers is wrong.Sir John in one of his essays goes on about productivity even for state workers in connection with their demands for higher wages; I fully agree with him.

    13. Nottingham Lad Himself
      November 6, 2021

      Absolutely right, Gorman.

      As others have said, there are now more houses-per-person than there were in the 1960s.

      As much demand comes from divorce as does from immigration too, perhaps more.

      We also have many widowed elderly people living alone in spacious homes.

      High prices are mainly determined by lax credit rules, low interest rates, and local market outlook anyway.

      Otherwise why can you buy streets of houses for Ā£1 each in parts of County Durham, and why did prices fall sharply after 2008 despite no fall at all in immigration?

      1. Peter2
        November 6, 2021

        Is your County Durham story correct NHL
        The Internet says “two terraced houses go on sale for Ā£1 each”
        And it says another 10 with a starting price of a pound but are being sold at auction.
        All need complete renovation and refurbishment.
        So poor is their condition that no inside viewings are allowed.

      2. Peter2
        November 6, 2021

        I think you know why house prices fell 15% in 2008 NHL
        There a credit crunch and global financial meltdown.
        Many lost their jobs.
        There was big increases in property prices in previous years
        eg 18% in 202 and 14% in 2006 which meant many still make big gains if they had to sell.
        2002 average house price Ā£106k
        2008 average house price 169k
        2021 average house price Ā£231k
        So 2008 caused a temporary fall but the overall rise since 2000 has been huge.
        There are many factors eg low interest rates, buy to let, etc but the 5 or 6 million new arrivals since 2000 has been a big reason

  2. DOM
    November 5, 2021

    John

    Illegal immigration into the UK is assisted by your government, encouraged by Labour and the British State. I know that and you know that. We can see it, each day, with our own eyes.

    Now, I might be a complete idiot but don’t take the public for idiots. They know the political class approve of such forms of transfers of peoples into the UK. Such transfers of these people serve a multitude of political, social and cultural objectives, all of them sinister

    Anyone who understands the rise of Neo-Marxism and its aims, will understand the importance of immigration from various nations to their objectives of completely destroying the UK from within. The aim is nothing less than divide and conquer and subjugate which explains why I have been reduced to a 10th citizen in my own country. On the hierarchy of rights I am now at the bottom looking up to more favoured identities. Your party working with Labour are culpable

    All that we now see is deliberate, manufactured and part of a political strategy and your party is intimately involved, albeit under duress

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      November 5, 2021

      Nail on head.

      1. Hope
        November 7, 2021

        Dom,
        Not under duress. Definitely not. JR and chums are intelligent people and knew and know their govt lied to the people. They have a share of the blame because they could act against it or make their govt. honour manifesto pledges.

        JRā€™s party and govt. told us they would cut numbers all to get elected. Quite clear and unequivocal, not once, several times. Osborn stated no one in private was serious! It was a deliberate lie to get votes and undermine UKIP and Brexit party.

    2. BOF
      November 5, 2021

      +1 DOM?K

    3. J Bush
      November 5, 2021

      +10

    4. Donna
      November 5, 2021

      I’m watching to see if Johnson is awarded the Coudenhove-Kalergi prize, like Blair and Merkel.

    5. Timaction
      November 5, 2021

      +1

    6. Jim Whitehead
      November 5, 2021

      DOM, +1, And it’s not conspiracy freakery, it’s the continuation of the long long battle of the political left against a conservative evolution, not remotely connected to the current Conservative party quislings.
      Only the seriously sinisterly motivated and the purblind can fail to recognise the obvious treachery afoot

  3. J Bush
    November 5, 2021

    The Johnson regime along with their little helpers on the opposite side of the Commons will never achieve net zero with their desire for continued mass and uncontrolled immigration and the need for more housing and supporting infrastructure. All this merely exacerbates the CO2 they so desperately want to get rid of. So they claim…

    It is rather like their garbage about this apparently deadly virus with a 99.5% survival rate that is, according to them, is just as virulent as it was nearly 2 years ago. And the only way to deal with it, is to keep being jabbed with an experimental gene therapy, which is now making more jabbed people ill than the unjabbed.

    The sums just don’t add up. Is is any wonder that the populace don’t believe a word the Johnson regime say?

    1. Everhopeful
      November 5, 2021

      +oh sooooo many!!

    2. MG
      November 5, 2021

      Well said

    3. Dennis
      November 5, 2021

      What about this – UK government holds COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, while seeking to increase fossil fuel production abroad
      declassifieduk.org

      1. Dennis
        November 5, 2021

        And this – As the UK hosts COP26, we estimate its aircraft carrierā€™s China trip is using enough fuel for an average car to drive 200 million miles.

    4. R.Grange
      November 5, 2021

      J Bush: There are now many more double-vaccinated than unvaccinated in most age-groups, so what you say is unsurprising, put like that. The question is whether pro rata the double-vaccinated have any advantage over the unvaccinated in terms of Covid hospitalisations and deaths. The figures I’ve seen suggest they do have a slight advantage among the 60+ age groups. (That’s without going into adverse effects, of course.)

    5. Timaction
      November 5, 2021

      https://www.desmog.com/richard-lindzen/
      Watch Professor Richard Lindzen a real climate scientist from MIT. He gave a presentation to the Global Warming Policy Group in 2018. Totally dismantled the net zero rubbish and explained the real science etc. It’s worth an hour of peoples time and help spread the word to debunk the clown and his ridiculous policies. We need a referendum to stop the rubbish he wants to bankrupt us with. He likened those believing that CO2 is changing the climate to similar to those who believe in magic. Please share this around, enough is enough.

  4. Mark B
    November 5, 2021

    Good morning.

    The yearly arrival of more than 250,000 additional people . . .

    So who is in charge then, and why are they allowing those people in ?

    I also seem to remember the PM announcing that millions of Chinese HK people can settle here. As usual, no thought as to where they are going to live, work and how they are going to integrate. Come ye all approach !

    The position could be improved if the authorities had more success in preventing illegal migration.

    It is not the authorities fault. It is governments. Did you know that we give these ILLEGALS spending money ?!?!?! Yes, they get Ā£35 / week. You need to address the PULL FACTORS first. That is something government can do. That is why they are leaving France for the UK. In France they know they won’t get anything.

    Ministers want the profiteers arrested . . .

    Yes, but you are going to have to ask the French, because that is where the crime is being committed.

    I have made suggestions here before. Like our kind host they go largely ignored. If you want this resolved you will have to get tough. Fat chance with the current lot running the Circus.

    1. wanderer
      November 5, 2021

      +1. Australia largely solved its illegal immigration problem by making it plain that those trying to get in were criminals and were going to be sent back to where they came from, or rot in offshore holding centres. The army patrols the wilder parts of the coastline, and the navy the seas, to intercept and arrest these criminals.

    2. MFD
      November 5, 2021

      + 1, ever word is true. We are the only country in the world to provide housing and pocket money( which is more than I as a pensioner can afford) to an invading army of young soldiers.
      Make them uncomfortable, let them freeze in fields like cattle.

    3. Hope
      November 5, 2021

      Mark,
      Let us not forget HO admitting to select committee the 250,000 lost to the system under May and 56,000 lost to the system under Rudd. After these admissions Javid thought it a good idea to close all detention centres!

      Where do they think these illegal criminals work, get health treatment, go to school? Do the Tories consider it might boost crime? Do they pay tax?

      May got rid of 20,000 police officers and was determined not to give them a pay rise for years even after Javid pleaded with her! Despite crime soaring, particularly knife crime and murder, May said no correlation between police numbers and crime. Manchester bomber came in and out of the country at his pleasure. It did not help her election in 2017! Yet no criticism of any minister!

    4. X-Tory
      November 5, 2021

      You are right: eliminate the pull factors and you eliminate the migrants. That is the key. So, what are the pull factors that must be eliminated?
      1. The prospect of gaining asylum or ELTR (Exceptional Leave to Remain). The government must say that NO migrant will be allowed to remain here, under any circumstances.
      2. The prospect of being able to challenge government decisions in the courts. The government must eliminate the right of appeal against their decisions on immigration status and deportation.
      3. The prospect of not being deported. The government must force through the deportation of every single illegal migrant and asylum seeker, without exception.
      4. The prospect of decent housing, food and living standards (money, phones, clothes, etc) while they are here. The government must move every migrant to a holding camp in Africa until they have found another country that will take them, or until they agree to return to their home country. We can use our foreign aid budget to entice an African country to do this.

      These 4 simple steps will immediately stop illegal migrants from coming here, and all the problems will be solved. And if there are some laws that need changing in order to do any of these things, then the sooner the government get on with this the better. Or do they intend to do nothing instead? Oh yes, that’s right, that’s exactly what the useless blob of gutless green jelly masquerading as prime minister intends to do: Nothing.

    5. Nota#
      November 5, 2021

      @Mark B The UK taxpayer is being forced by Government to encourage illegal human trafficking.

      The people forcing themselves in are criminals, their handlers are criminals and the default position as a facilitator is also the UK Government. The reason nothing is done is because Government is just as Guilty and arbiter of the law will not hold itself to account.

    6. Dennis
      November 5, 2021

      Turning boats around is deemed unacceptable in case even one person drowns but killing thousands of innocent men, women, children and babies with British bomb and expertise is never mentioned and is OK.

  5. Shirley M
    November 5, 2021

    I have read that not one single illegal immigrant has been deported. Is this true, and if so, please explain why!

    No other country pays for 4* hotels and all the other freebies for uninvited ‘visitors’. Why does the UK do this?

    Other countries have solved this problem. I am sure they didn’t break international law, or if they did it amounted to nothing. Why are the powers that be so incapable of following suit? They wouldn’t even have to think up the solution themselves, as they could just copy!

    We get excuses, excuses, excuses, but never any real answers. Answers to the above would be start.

    1. JoolsB
      November 5, 2021

      Shirley, if you want the facts, watch Farage on GB news at 7.00 p.m. every night. Illegals in their hundreds, mostly men, are filmed entering Kent every single day. Disgracefully RNLI volunteers are being used to make dozens of trips each day to taxi them in because Border Force canā€™t cope.

      Despite Patelā€™s tough words, not a single one of them have been sent back. Not one.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        November 5, 2021

        Jools. Yes. 100% agree with your post. Farage is well worth listening to. We know many that didn’t like him but are rapidly changing their minds. He has a great informative programme.

    2. Andy
      November 5, 2021

      Illegal immigrants are deported because they are illegal.

      If the people arriving by dinghy are not deported it is because they are not illegal.

      And that is where your problem is.

      They are asylum seekers and no matter how much you rage and rant about it, arriving by dinghy to claim asylum is not illegal.

      Incidentally, when you all voted to leave the EU – because you donā€™t like foreigners – you were led to believe this sort of thing wouldnā€™t happen.

      It didnā€™t happen before Brexit. The first dinghies arrived in 2018. This is entirely the fault of people like you. You voted for it.

      The most important thing to understand though is that the reason it canā€™t be fixed is that it is mostly a problem in your head.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        November 5, 2021

        Asylum from France.

        Thank you for confirming what an unpleasant place it is for refugees.

      2. No Longer Anonymous
        November 5, 2021

        Andy.

        The term ‘gaslighting’ was made for Remainers.

        Abuse people, deceive them and then tell them it’s all in their heads.

      3. Peter2
        November 5, 2021

        They are trying to escape from France says young Andy with another absurd post.

        1. Andy
          November 5, 2021

          They are travelling through France – not from it. They mostly come from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan,Syria, Libya and Yemen.

          1. Peter2
            November 6, 2021

            Rubbish again Andy
            They are living in France.

            You told us with pride how the EU had encouraged millions to come.
            Merkel’s millions.

      4. Philip P.
        November 5, 2021

        Nope, wrong again, Andy. They are coming from a safe country (France). Under the Dublin III rules, that means they are not refugees whose lives would be in danger were they to remain there.

        1. Andy
          November 5, 2021

          Dublin 111 is an EU law. It applies to EU member states and allows them to return asylum seekers to the first EU country of entry.

          But you left the EU.

          1. Peter2
            November 6, 2021

            Yet they also have freedom of movement inside the EU so how does that work Andy?
            And all they need to do is claim asylum.

      5. Old Albion
        November 5, 2021

        Don’t be so silly Andy. They are NOT asylum seekers. If they were, they would have applied for asylum in one of the many safe countries they passed through.

        1. Andy
          November 5, 2021

          They can apply for asylum where they like.

      6. SM
        November 5, 2021

        There have been migrants attempting to enter the UK without passing through legitimate passport/visa controls for more than 20 years – the use of dinghies is relatively new, I believe, but it used to be via trans-Continental lorries, often leading to tragic deaths for stowaways. A excellent TV drama called ‘Collision’ included a story about regular illegal migrant transportation via trucks – it was shown in 2009, quite a while before Brexit!

        I recall complaints, when I lived in Outer London near a couple of major arterial roads, that occasionally vans dumped the illegals beside the roads and when police were informed, they shrugged their shoulders and the migrants were simply allowed to wander off.

      7. Beecee
        November 5, 2021

        If they were ‘legal’ then, for substantially less than they are paying to risk their lives in a dinghy, they could come on a ferry! All they have to do is claim and get asylum in France, a safe haven, first.

        Being always discourteous to others on this site not only shows the frailty of your arguments but also your inability to present your case in a rational manner!

        1. beresford
          November 5, 2021

          Andy is right in that it is not illegal to CLAIM asylum, even if you are obviously not entitled to it. This is the way the system is being gamed, you deliberately place yourself at risk so the British must rescue you, then you make a spurious asylum claim so you can’t be immediately returned. By the time the claim is heard and rejected you are impossible to get rid of, assuming that you haven’t already absconded. We need to change the rules by coming up with an alternative system and applying it, no matter how much opprobrium this brings from the globalists.

      8. MFD
        November 5, 2021

        Andy you talk a lot of rubbish normally but this claptrap is your best yet!

        By the way, how much does it cost for a clapped out outboard and rubber tub these days in Turkey?

      9. Fedupsoutherner
        November 5, 2021

        Andy. And it will be a problem fir your lovely children in years to come. Enjoy.

      10. alan jutson
        November 5, 2021

        Andy, why would they want to escape from France, you tell us everything in the EU is wonderful and our Country is a dump.

      11. rose
        November 6, 2021

        Boats were arriving when Ann Widdecombe was Minister of State at the Home Office – in the last century. She couldn’t do anything about it either. They were probably arriving before that too. the longer this has been going on unchecked, the worse it has become.

    3. Hope
      November 5, 2021

      Shirley,

      Widdicombe views this as the reason why they keep coming in their droves.

      No detention centres while processing them- Javid announced at Tory conference when HS he was proud to close them! When application gets close they get ā€œlost to the systemā€. I wonder why that happens?

      The illegal criminals cannot be deported very easily because Johnson made ECHR central to the Brexit deal. It allows the EU to walk away from the deal in 12 days. Johnson signed up to it. He also carried on with UN migration pact where auN encourages nations to treat illegal immigrants as legal citizens! Indigenous people forced to sell their homes for adult care while criminals have no worries in 4 star hotels!

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        November 5, 2021

        It is UN resolutions, not ECHR, which stipulate the treatment of asylum claimants – who are not criminals nor even illegal no matter how many times you repeat your deluded claim that they are.

        If their claims are found to be void, then they are deported. And they are.

        1. Philip P.
          November 5, 2021

          They are not refugees, lad. If they were, they would have needed to apply for asylum in France. ‘The Dublin Regulation (also known as Dublin III) is EU law setting out which country is responsible for looking at an individualā€™s asylum application. This is usually the country where the asylum seeker first arrives in the EU.’ https://ukandeu.ac.uk/the-facts/what-is-the-dublin-regulation/

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            November 6, 2021

            I’ll take the Court’s opinion – as to whether their claim is valid – on a case-by-case basis, thanks, not yours, old flower.

            And in which court would you seek to enforce the Dublin Regulation – which only applies between European Union members anyway – as a non-member country?

            Come on then?

        2. Peter2
          November 5, 2021

          In numbers which relate to a small percentage of the whole NHL
          Surely you know that?

    4. glen cullen
      November 5, 2021

      Upon arrival to our shores with accommodation in a hotel the first thing the illegal immigrants do, is to call their friends across Europe and further afield and tell them that theyā€™re staying in a warm hotel, room service (covid conditions) and free food and pocket moneyā€¦.tell everyone
      The UK system is the PULL factor

    5. X-Tory
      November 5, 2021

      Yes, that’s right, NOT ONE of the illegal migrants who have crossed the Channel have been deported. This is clearly another of Boris’s NET ZERO policies!

      We are told that the problem is that neither France nor any other EU country will accept these people, but there are two obvious solutions:
      1. Return them to their country of origin instead; or
      2. Pay an African country to build a holding camp for these people until they find another country that will take them.

      Regarding option 1, we are told this might be against human rights rules as they may be in danger in their home country, but the answer is simply to DISREGARD these rules. We are an independent and sovereign country and can do what WE want. The government must simply say that the UK is FULL and that we cannot accept any more asylum seekers, so if they come here they will be immediately returned home, with NO right of appeal. Regarding option 2, we can use our foreign aid budget for this. There will be plenty of African countries delighted to do this job for a few billion pounds, and if asylum seekers know that coming to the UK will result in them immediately going to an African refugee camp I’m pretty sure they’ll soon stop coming!

    6. Mark B
      November 5, 2021

      Theresa May MP signed the UK up to the UN Pact on migration. Go look it up !

      Sir John blames the ‘authorities and the traffickers’ but it is our own government that is behind all this. That is why nothing is being done. As someone else pointed out elsewhere, with a supposedly falling birth / population rate, who do you think all these new flats are for ?

      1. glen cullen
        November 5, 2021

        Correct – As memory serves me I believe there wasnā€™t ever a vote in the HoC, Theresa May as PM signed the ā€˜UN Pact on Migrationā€™ in double quick fashion

    7. Nota#
      November 5, 2021

      @Shirley M – The UK taxpayer is a bottomless money pit, the Government squanders this resource seemingly because they can.

    8. Dennis
      November 5, 2021

      Why does the govt. do nothing? Is it ‘cos they are frightened of the media? What else, then?

  6. turboterrier
    November 5, 2021

    Preventing illegal immigration

    You must be having a laugh.
    Over 20 thousand illegals by dinghy.
    How many have been Deported?
    The government do what they do best, talk , talk, talk and no action.
    Their Net Zero nonsense and immigration will bring them down.
    You can only con the people some of the time. Start with treating us with respect and not idiots. All the posturing on the world stages doesn’t cut the mustard.

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      November 5, 2021

      +1

      I’m hoping for a cold winter and power cuts to add to the falling standard of living.

      Better for this to be confronted sooner than later.

    2. Lifelogic
      November 5, 2021

      Indeed ā€œmore success in preventing illegal migrationā€ there clearly is no political will to even try to deter immigration just hot air. If the immigrants knew they would not be allowed to state they would not set off to come here it is quite simple.

      To get more housing you have to relax planning laws and all the green crap building regulations and lower stamp duty. Some people would be in a far better place to buy if they did not have Ā£50k of student debt for what is usually a fairly worthless degree. For the cost of the white elephant HS2 you could have built about one million three bed houses within 12 months.

      1. Lifelogic
        November 5, 2021

        But clearly the Government prefer the pointless HS2 to houses (it is hard to see any reason other than gross stupidity/incompetence or more likely corruption & vested interests for this choice). Perhaps the homeless can just live under any incidental railway arches and bridges constructed. A ten minute faster train is clearly of more import to MPs.

        – not be allowed to ā€œstayā€ I meant!

      2. Dennis
        November 5, 2021

        To let govt. know about the illegal boat people being unacceptable what about blocking the M25 and all other Ms plus around Whitehall every day? Seems very doable t seems.

    3. Andy
      November 5, 2021

      It isnā€™t illegal to arrive by dinghy if you are claiming asylum.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        November 5, 2021

        Yes. That loophole again, Andy.

      2. Peter2
        November 5, 2021

        They are victims of criminal trafficking gangs and many will end up as modern slavery statistics.
        You OK with that presumably young andy

        1. Andy
          November 5, 2021

          Of course not. But they will end up like that because of the Conservative government which you vote for and I donā€™t.

          1. Peter2
            November 6, 2021

            What a ridiculous comment by you young Andy.
            Modern day slavery is ignored by the EU yet they like you, are obsessed with slavery from over 200 years ago.

      3. Beecee
        November 5, 2021

        It is if you are coming from the EU and from which you do not qualify as a refugee!

      4. Nottingham Lad Himself
        November 5, 2021

        If enough of us beat our chests, whilst stamping about round a totem, and whilst chanting in unison that it is, then some people believe that it makes it so, apparently Andy.

        No one in the ropey pubs where they do that – metaphorically speaking – wants to be the odd one out, maybe.

        1. SM
          November 5, 2021

          Oh, is that what you and your ageist friend get up to in your spare time?

        2. Peter2
          November 5, 2021

          NHL
          Is there any maximum number of asylum seekers you feel is right?
          Is there any maximum number of annual net migration you feel is right?

      5. Original Richard
        November 5, 2021

        Andy : “It isnā€™t illegal to arrive by dinghy if you are claiming asylum.”

        Proof that we have a corrupted Parliament, civil service, police and judicial system filled with fifth column communists determined to destroy the West’s economy and and then democracy.

    4. glen cullen
      November 5, 2021

      To continue with a system of failure is madness, that system is to catch the criminal gang leadersā€¦.its been 3 years without any success
      Ship them back mid channel, pick them up and safely return them to the French in accordance to international law of the sea ā€“ any safe port (doesnā€™t mean a port in the UK)

    5. alan jutson
      November 5, 2021

      turboterrior

      But it’s not just 20,000, it’s their whole family members as well, who will doubtless follow on later.
      The 20,000 plus are the illegals we know of in just one year, you still have to add on those who come legally, and the illegal number no one is aware of.
      Just face it John our system is broke and out of control, well and truly.

      Lets get real, many of our ex servicemen and woman are living on the streets with mental health problems, with little or no support, whilst in some cases the very people they were fighting for or against, come here illegally, and are put up in 4 star hotels, given health care, good food, and spending money at the taxpayers expense. Madness, utter madness, Only in the UK could this happen !.

      1. a-tracy
        November 5, 2021

        The home office have recently lost a case after blocking an elderly Indian widowed mother in her late 70’s who suffers with dementia, depression and lumbar spondylosis from joining her family in the UK as it has infringed the human rights of her Indian born daughter who is a British citizen. I hope Andy isn’t reading this they’ll be apoplectic an old person arriving to claim on the British state without paying in at all. WOooooo

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          November 5, 2021

          Tracy, would you be as aggrieved if it were an elderly Australian or Canadian woman joining her daughter under the same circumstance?

          Come on, now?

          Well?

          1. Peter2
            November 6, 2021

            Ridiculous whataboutery from you NHL
            But I suppose it gave you a chance to wave your race card just like MiC used to do
            Come on eh, as he used to say.

          2. a-tracy
            November 6, 2021

            Read again NLH Iā€™m not concerned I said Andy will blow their top, Andyā€™s regular daily ageist attacks on people that have paid in all their lives, some of them still paying 20% of their pension going on their local rates and now their television tax again, how is that idiot going to cope when he finds out disabled elderly people can just come right on in.

            Well, come on now? So condescending youā€™re getting, go troll someone else.

      2. glen cullen
        November 5, 2021

        So why are they coming to a cold democratic christian country 4,000 miles away from familyā€¦..oh yes itā€™s the vast amount of freebies and handouts

    6. Shirley M
      November 5, 2021

      I ask myself how the UK government could make illegal immigration to the UK even more attractive? I doubt it is possible. Even violent criminals know they will be made welcome, looked after better than the Brits, and are extremely unlikely to be deported no matter how many innocent lives they take or destroy!

      I hope the next GE is brought forward.

  7. Mick
    November 5, 2021

    I will be asking more questions about the development of the governments approach to skills, domestic recruitment of Labour and illegal migrants.
    I fear that come the next General Election the public will forget about the pandemic but will be focused on the open borders and total lack of sending illegals back across the waters back to France, whatā€™s needed is a new party for the people that listens to us and stops this woke culture thatā€™s growing daily

  8. Javelin
    November 5, 2021

    There is an estimated 1 million illegal immigrants in the UK.

    There is a shortage of 1 million homes in the UK.

    Please do the maths.

    It is cheaper to deport than to build a house.

    1. Andy
      November 5, 2021

      There are an estimated 9 million over 70s in the UK.

      It is cheaper to stop healthcare than to build a house.

      Maths done.

      1. Peter2
        November 5, 2021

        Ah the nice kind modern urban extreme left as displayed by young andy.
        Saying lets dispose of 9 million people.
        Now who in recent history had a similar policy?

        1. graham1946
          November 6, 2021

          He suggested ‘concentration camps’ earlier in this thread, dressed up as elderly villages, with people being forced from the homes they have paid for. Sounds like someone else from the 1930’s but I know the Andy’s of this world don’t do history before 1997.

      2. alan jutson
        November 5, 2021

        Great thoughts again Andy, Your Parents, and Grandparents if alive, must be proud of you.

        1. glen cullen
          November 5, 2021

          +1

      3. SM
        November 5, 2021

        It would surely be even more economical to forbid all treatment or care, regardless of age, for – say – Stage 4 cancer, severe cerebral stroke, motor neurone disease, Down’s Syndrome, early onset dementia, Crohn’s disease and so on. When will you be advocating that, Andy?

      4. a-tracy
        November 5, 2021

        Andy, ageist insult.

      5. Fedupsoutherner
        November 5, 2021

        Andy. Such a nice person. You must be very popular. You parents must be proud.

    2. Lifelogic
      November 5, 2021

      1 million new homes would cost about the same as HS2 to construct. Much quicker to construct too. Perhaps restrict student loans to non hobby Stem subjects – medicine, building skills and similar. We have far too many duff degrees – circa 75% of them are.

    3. X-Tory
      November 5, 2021

      Actually the estimated number of illegals in the UK was around TWO MILLION – and that was several years ago! It will obviously be a lot higher now. The problem is the government has no will to deport those who should not be here. It’s all down to government incompetence, lies and treachery – as always!

    4. glen cullen
      November 5, 2021

      In the majority of countries in the world you’d be on the first aeroplane without question
      Our approach is madness

  9. Javelin
    November 5, 2021

    The Guardian correctly states. ā€œProperty developers gave Tories Ā£891,000 in first quarter of 2021ā€

    In other word property developers want more immigration so they can build more houses. When mass immigration stops. House building stops. Conservative donations stop.

    Conservative voters want less immigration.

    The consequence is corrupted Conservative politicians ignoring the cause of the demand for houses. Going directly against their voters wishes and quietly increasing immigration. This dilutes the average tax. Lowers the standard of living and causes great harm to the British people. All for the sake of a couple of million pounds a year.

    Itā€™s an absolute moral disgrace.

    1. Sir Joe Soap
      November 5, 2021

      Precisely.

    2. Dennis
      November 5, 2021

      I see you don’t disagree with this analysis, JR.

    3. Nottingham Lad Himself
      November 6, 2021

      No, they want things like low interest rates, lax credit rules, Help To Sell, duty holidays, and all the other things that the Tories do to keep stoking the bubble.

      More demand comes from divorce, and from the legacy of On Your Bike To Get A Job than does from immigration anyway.

  10. Everhopeful
    November 5, 2021

    Just tell Border Farce to pretend that the incomes are typical middle aged Englishmen.
    Law abiding and tax paying.
    Psycho babble nudge unit should have no problem with that.
    Ditto Border Farce who would suddenly manage to do their job.
    No doubt with knobs on!

    1. Everhopeful
      November 5, 2021

      But actually I think that whatever happens is what the government REALLY wants.
      Virtue signalling or some international treaty.
      Slavishly following that whilst our human rights are trashed!

      1. glen cullen
        November 5, 2021

        They’re cowards
        I don’t think the government want immigrants (in the news), but they’re cowards to sending any back for fear of the earling backlash

        1. Everhopeful
          November 5, 2021

          +1
          Agree 100%

    2. Everhopeful
      November 5, 2021

      Sorry.
      Incomers

    3. JoolsB
      November 5, 2021

      Apparently there was just one Border Farce boat patrolling the Channel this week, the others were in dock. Meanwhile those courageous unpaid volunteers of the RNLI have been doing their jobs for them. No doubt Border Farce unions will only allow them to work 9 to 5 poor things.

      1. Everhopeful
        November 5, 2021

        +1
        But which job has RNLI been doing for them?
        Protecting our borders or providing a ferry service?

        1. rose
          November 6, 2021

          Rescue, from the small hours of the morning till late at night, in all weathers and conditions. All voluntary.

          1. rose
            November 6, 2021

            i.e. often it is too dangerous for Border Force to go out but it is considered OK for the lifeboats.

      2. Original Richard
        November 5, 2021

        JoolsB : “Meanwhile those courageous unpaid volunteers of the RNLI have been doing their jobs for them [UK Border Force].”

        The fifth column in the UK elite are intentionally destroying yet another wonderful UK intitution, the RNLI.

        As for many institutions, the first in the World.

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          November 6, 2021

          So you expect the RNLI to leave anyone who does not speak English as a first language to drown, and to ignore the Law Of The Sea, it appears.

          Fortunately it consists of people infinitely better than you could ever be.

          1. Peter2
            November 7, 2021

            It isnt their job.
            It is for the Border Force boats .

  11. Hat man
    November 5, 2021

    Yes, this starts to look like a housing policy. At least it would be the framework in which we could have a sensible housing policy. Whether ‘asking questions of the government’ is going to get anywhere is another matter. Its actual policy on migration is being made very clear by the Home Secretary – more cross-channel migration allowed to take place, far less deportation of illegal migrants, fewer police raids on suspected illegals… and lots of talk about ‘getting tough’.
    The question to ask ministers is: “Why are you doing this, and who benefits?”

    1. Nota#
      November 5, 2021

      @Hat man – ā€˜asking questions of the governmentā€™ Its against their religion to listen

    2. Dennis
      November 5, 2021

      ā€œWhy are you doing this, and who benefits?ā€ JR is not interested in asking this of any minister otherwise he would have already done so.

  12. Dave Andrews
    November 5, 2021

    The illegal migrant problem won’t go away all the time the government is offering hope, by picking them up in the Channel and taking them to hotels. Some day they will just be let out they expect.
    It’s no good blaming France – they don’t want them either and break human rights legislation themselves on their Eastern border trying to keep them out. If we did what they are doing it would be blasted all over the Anglophone MSM.
    What is needed is a prompt return to the country of origin, or the neighbouring refugee camp, with some contribution to the aid agencies running them. That will break the traffickers’ business model.
    Tell the world they need to fix the problems in their country, not run away from them. Afghanistan is under Taliban control because the people just let them walk in. Now they have misery.

    1. SM
      November 5, 2021

      You make sending the migrants back sound easy – it obviously is not.

      Set aside for a moment the Human Rights legislation that can be used by them to remain, what if they have destroyed any identity documentation? What country will you return them to, and even if their country of origin can be established, what if that State refuses to accept them, for whatever reason?

      1. Narrow Shoulders
        November 5, 2021

        The UK and EU can pay an African country a decent amount of cash to establish a sanitary camp in the desert. Must be cheaper than a 4* Hotel each.

        All asylum seekers are sent there to be processed. If they have made themselves stateless and the African country is happy to receive them for cash there is no problem with shipping them there.

        The flow of claimants will dry up when they realise they end up in Africa.

        1. SM
          November 5, 2021

          I live in Africa – your innocence about life here caused me to break out into a (very) wry smile.

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        November 5, 2021

        You’re beginning to get the problem that France etc. have.

        Keep going.

        1. Micky Taking
          November 6, 2021

          That is the essence of the issue. France lets them in, Germany let them in, Greece etc had to let them in…..who invited then to mass emigrate?
          The EU – WHO ? Oh that woman Frau Merkel.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            November 6, 2021

            How did Germany “let them in”?

            Did they land via the Baltic or the North Sea?

            šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚

          2. Peter2
            November 7, 2021

            Are you trying to say Germany has no borders?
            They travelled on land to Germany.
            Ridiculous as usual NHL

      3. Dennis
        November 5, 2021

        ‘….destroyed any identity documentation’ Well to be tough, though probably never implemented, is to keep them in jail until they reveal it – would that take very long? Then if their country refuses to accept them set up sanctions against it. (yes, only the US can do that)

        Yes I know that would never happen, just a thought.

      4. Mark B
        November 5, 2021

        SM

        There are many Scottish Islands, plus Northern Ireland, where these people can be housed. We will then know where they are as there will be very few places for them to roam to and, he says tongue in cheek, get lost to the system.

  13. Everhopeful
    November 5, 2021

    What about the migrant children who have gone missing since being encouraged to come here?
    Is anything being done about that?
    Or is that a bridge too far for our caring government?

    1. glen cullen
      November 5, 2021

      Remember the pictures of the coachs full of children (men -25yrs claiming to be 14yrs) a few years ago….I wonder where they are now

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        November 5, 2021

        It’s the Tories again !

        First boys with beards are ‘children’ and now men with beards in dinghies are ‘child asylum seekers’.

        We are told by the BBC/MSM that the boats are full of children but all the pictures show is boats full of grown men.

        The Tories are see it as their job to satisfy the likes of Andy, not their voters.

        Andy is too dim to keep his mouth shut.

        I just hope to god that these children don’t go on to kill our children by driving illegally and such like. Surely our people have rights too ?

        1. glen cullen
          November 5, 2021

          Theyā€™re all fast food delivery drivers now, driving scooters on ā€˜Lā€™ plates which my police friend has told me theyā€™ve been instructed never to stop, like the electric bikes

        2. Andy
          November 5, 2021

          The corrupt incompetents who you vote for donā€™t satisfy me.

      2. Everhopeful
        November 5, 2021

        +1
        Goodness yes!
        I did wonder when I read the article whether it meant young children orā€¦er ..adult children.
        But yes youā€™re right! I bet they scarpered into the hills!

      3. Original Richard
        November 5, 2021

        glen cullen : The Home Office’s definition of a child is anyone 25 years old or younger.

  14. Margaret Brandreth-
    November 5, 2021

    The numbers of immigrants should be severely curtailed. This comment has nothing to do with racism . It is purely a numbers and space problem . We need to ask ourselves why the immigrants always want to come to England and not stay in other countries such as France. France has a lot more land to house people and it would make sense to reduce those numbers crossing the channel.

    New houses of four and five bedrooms are now in the process of being built . the size of bedrooms is minute and the garden space is almost non existent.The element of greed is obviously a factor for builders , but to allow these squashed up houses to be built in the first place needs permission. We need more green space .

    1. Everhopeful
      November 5, 2021

      +1
      It all fits really.
      We are supposed to be in the ā€œFourth Industrial Revolutionā€or some such b*ll*cks.
      During the first one people were forced off the land and into tiny back to backs ( hutches) in the factory towns.
      This time they forced (potential workers?) out of the ME to be brought to hutches and what passes for life in Tory Britain.
      No heat.
      No meat.
      Theyā€™ll love all that when it hits!

    2. a-tracy
      November 5, 2021

      Margaret, the easiest way to deal with racism is not to put so many people into our most socially deprived areas and put them in the areas that condemn others for racism when it doesn’t impact on them personally or their local schools and local facilities.

  15. No Longer Anonymous
    November 5, 2021

    I don’t think your party is capable of anything except borrowing, and pissing our taxes down the drain and looking after chums.

    I’m seriously contemplating voting Labour next time. If we’re going to have commies in office then let’s have the real thing and not shysters who try to con us.

    Boris has betrayed our trust and his choice of transport to the Garrick Club on leaving Cop 26 shows it is do-as-I-say… one-rule-for-us- another-for-them.

    His policies are going to seriously hurt ordinary people. He could at least look as though he’s trying.

    Incidentally. The BBC recently showed glaciers falling into the Arctic Ocean. Those would be the same glaciers that have been in retreat since the last ice age 12000 years ago, with not a chimney in sight.

    The climate has ALWAYS changed. Everything changes. Marcus Aurelius teaches us that the only constant in life is change and that all we can do is adapt and accept.

    We ordinary people are certainly going to need that sort of stoicism with the amphibious invasion that is being allowed – what else to call flotillas of 20,000 men landing on our shores per year (and counting) with the connivance of the Tory Government ?

    Did you know the Romans *invaded* with only 50,000 men ?

    And they weren’t armed with the rapid fire weapon than is political correctness and critical race theory and that has already been used to scrub white kids out of Christmas advertising.

    1. Narrow Shoulders
      November 5, 2021

      Your vote next time should #noneof the above or a single issue independent.

      Do not give credibility to any of these charlatan parties. The only way to force change is for enough people to attend the polling booth and spoil the paper. That gets registered and can not be put down to apathy.

      1. a-tracy
        November 5, 2021

        NS these next few by-elections will be interesting. Will the public actually think about sending a shock wave or just conform. I’m glad I don’t have to make that decision.

        1. Narrow Shoulders
          November 5, 2021

          a-tracy I don’t think the public will consider it. They will either stay away or vote for the least-worst.

          Actively voting none of the above needs a charismatic leader to show its possibilities.

    2. Dave Andrews
      November 5, 2021

      You’re seriously contemplating voting Labour?
      Here are some words for you to dwell on – Angela Rayner, Jonathan Ashworth, Rachel Reeves, Emily Thornberry, Ed Miliband.
      Now that you’ve pondered them, go and have a lie down.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        November 5, 2021

        Dave Andrews

        I am past caring and I am of the fervent belief that Labour can’t be any worse and that the only way out of this hole is the annihilation of the Tory party.

        Yes. It means going further into the hole before The People get the hard times that give us the hard people to do this.

        Abstaining is simply not going to deliver any message. The Tories will be happier hiding in coalition, one suspects.

        Nope.

        It has to be an utter rout and it looks like the Tory economic and green policies will deliver the dissatisfaction to bring this about. Whatever. It doesn’t need a two party state to run a country like this. In fact we may as well just have a dictator (having gone explicitly against the will that produced an 80 seat majority.)

        I now want to vote any way that redistributes the smug and hypocritical Tesla Class’s wealth.

        Just how the hell did Boris get people wondering if Angela Rayner was right after all ? (Sleaze rears its ugly head again.)

        1. rose
          November 6, 2021

          People were so furious in 1997 that they thought New Labour couldn’t be worse: but they were, a lot worse. They opened the borders, thus driving down wages and conditions; they waged four unjustified wars; they sold the gold; they broke up the Kingdom with their thoughtless and self interested devolution; they vandalised the Constitution with their establishment of the Supreme Court and their ghastly reform of the House of Lords; they sold out Northern Ireland to the IRA when the IRA had given up, roundly beaten and comprehensively infiltrated, four years earlier; they sent half the teenagers to university on worthless courses, thus damaging the labour market; they muddled up welfare and tax; they wrecked the pension base, the best in Europe; and finally, they bankrupted the country, having inherited a very good set of books. All these follies are with us still and goodness, have the chickens come home to roost!

          1. rose
            November 6, 2021

            And of course they did nothing, but nothing, about housing and energy. Their health spending was colossal, but no use, and we have been left with the after effects of PFI.

      2. Narrow Shoulders
        November 5, 2021

        #noneofthe above a spoiled paper.

      3. Mark B
        November 5, 2021

        And the difference is ?

    3. Everhopeful
      November 5, 2021

      +1

    4. Mitchel
      November 5, 2021

      Likewise the Germanic peoples who overran western Europe and ended the western Roman Empire are thought to have numbered,in all their waves,just a few hundred thousands in total.

      When a civilization effectively expires,it gives up, is destroyed from within and is taken over.

      In the introduction to his 1996 (Oxford) History of Europe,the historian Norman Davies wrote of the end of the western empire:

      “Perhaps one could empathize no less properly with the experiences of the advancing barbarians,of the Pagans or of the muslim warriors.In which case the prevailing air would probably become one of excitement,of expectation and of promise.According to (chronicler) Salvian of Marseilles,many Romans of good birth and education took refuge amongst the Goths and the Franks,”seeking a Roman humanity amongst the barbarians,because they could no longer support barbarian inhumanity among the Romans.”

      Have you all got the hang of the Cyrillic alphabet yet?!

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        November 5, 2021

        Thanks.

  16. BOF
    November 5, 2021

    Well it would seem our Ministers are too incompetent and need to go to Hungary on an educational tour where they actually prevent illegals from entering.

    Hangary, I understand, also has legislation and tax arrangements that makes it worthwhile for couples to stay together with the result that the domestic birth rate has gone up and the divorce rate down. Instead they seem hell bent on the destruction of culture, tradition and the economy of our country.

    They are, Sir John, a collective disgrace.

  17. Everhopeful
    November 5, 2021

    Funny how council houses were built out of the public purse, eagerly encouraged by employers so they could slough off their duty to house workers.
    Then remembering the huge wealth transfer that took place when those houses were sold, fuelling house price increases, how ironic that we now apparently need zillions of new houses to home workers.
    And are having our country ruined in the process!

    Well actually..what country? We are screwed.

  18. Old Albion
    November 5, 2021

    Indeed, 20,000 plus illegal migrants have entered England via small boats this year alone. Your Gov. has done nothing to stop this, absolutely nothing.
    Of course they’ll all be allowed to stay, as ever, with English taxpayers supporting them.
    Until you remove the attraction they will continue to come. How do you not understand that?

    1. Andy
      November 5, 2021

      Asylum seeker donā€™t get benefits.

      The come here because there is no war or terror or famine here – and they speak some English.

      You do not solve this problem here. You solve it at source by dealing with the war or terror or famine. But you cut international aid so, actually, you just made your dinghy problem worse for next year.

      Oh dear.

      1. rose
        November 5, 2021

        Our friends across the Channel have long castigated us for being the El Dorado of illegal immigration. It makes a lot of trouble for them. The Mayor of Calais has been saying it again this week.

      2. Peter2
        November 5, 2021

        You keep repeating this false claim young andy

        I have repeatedly given you a link to the government’s own site which lists exactly what they get.
        https://www.gov.uk
        “asylum-support”
        “what you’ll get”

        Stop your lies.

      3. Narrow Shoulders
        November 5, 2021

        Food and drink, a decent roof and Ā£35 per week. They already have a phone so what more do they need.

        1. Narrow Shoulders
          November 5, 2021

          No doubt Wi-Fi in the hotel is a human right.

        2. a-tracy
          November 5, 2021

          NS Britain was recently told they had to pay for their phone calls back to their home countries too.

          1. a-tracy
            November 5, 2021

            source: 4 Oct 2021 ā€” UK asylum seekers in hotels should have been given money for phone calls, judge rules. High court decision could cost Home Office millions

        3. Andy
          November 5, 2021

          They do not get food and drink. The Ā£35 a week – Ā£5 a day – is for food. They barely buys a latte.

          1. Peter2
            November 6, 2021

            Ā£35 a week is what many who have to survive on the meagre state pension have left after paying their bills.

          2. Micky Taking
            November 6, 2021

            my heart bleeds.

          3. a-tracy
            November 6, 2021

            Andy, are you sure that Ā£35 is just for food? I read that many of the accommodations are providing food and drink.

          4. a-tracy
            November 6, 2021

            Andy source The Mirror ā€˜A Home Office spokesperson said: ā€œAs required by law, we provide asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute with free, fully furnished accommodation and cover their utility costs.

            They are provided with a choice of three meals a day in line with NHS nutrition guidelines, as well as access to fresh fruit and drinking water all day.ā€

      4. Old Albion
        November 5, 2021

        They get given money, somewhere warm and safe to live (usually a hotel) free healthcare upon arrival, free food and replacement clothing. I think that’s benefits, don’t you?

        1. Andy
          November 5, 2021

          This isnā€™t true. Whilst some asylum seekers have briefly been put in hotels to quarantine during the pandemic, they mostly get sent to accommodation that is largely considered unfit for habitation. They get Ā£5 a day for food.

          That is it.

          You get a couple of hundred quid pension handouts plus whatever other benefits you are entitled to just because you are old.

          1. Nottingham Lad Himself
            November 6, 2021

            They know that it’s tripe, but if they keep repeating it everywhere, then they hope that some daft enough might believe them, Andy.

            It’s the same cynical ploy used by despots, and by would-be ones the world over.

          2. Micky Taking
            November 6, 2021

            and that and paddling across the Channel appears to be better than the migrant camps in France. Lesson to be learned? We must be handing them luxury by comparison.

          3. Peter2
            November 6, 2021

            So accommodation and free health care and Ā£35 a week and all the many other things listed on the .gov site I told you about.
            Have you been on and read it yet uoung andy or are you still a denier like your pal NHL just above.

          4. a-tracy
            November 6, 2021

            Andy and NLH just because you gang together doesnā€™t mean you are correct. In this instance it is you two talking tripe. A Home Office spokesperson said: ā€œAs required by law, we provide asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute with free, fully furnished accommodation and cover their utility costs.

            “They are provided with a choice of three meals a day in line with NHS nutrition guidelines, as well as access to fresh fruit and drinking water all day.ā€

        2. Dennis
          November 5, 2021

          No one mentions the benefits I’d go for – 24/7 potable drinking water from a tap in your own home, 24/7 continuous supply of electricity, no mosquitoes eating the hell out of you, no masses of flies invading your space, no fleas or bedbugs, no monsoon to flood you out, no bad droughts, an equitable climate, no police shaking you down every five minutes (in some places), plus the monetary benefits which are available.

          Sounds great to me, I’d come.

          1. glen cullen
            November 6, 2021

            +1

      5. a-tracy
        November 5, 2021

        Andy, who houses asylum seekers, who feeds them, who gives them pocket money and health treatment if these aren’t benefits what are they called?

  19. Ian Wragg
    November 5, 2021

    11 years in power and still unable to get a grip on immigration.
    4 million extra bodies that we know about according to the supermarkets probably many more.
    Immigration and net zero are going to be your nemesis. Be warned.

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      November 5, 2021

      Andrew Pierce says today that if Boris’s popularity falls the Tories are screwed.

      Well that’s already happened in this vicinity.

      1. Nottingham Lad Himself
        November 5, 2021

        Yes, that is correct, I think.

        They have attracted the votes of those to whom he sounds and gestures like a midweek 1980s BBC sitcom character played by Grif Rhys Jones etc., and it makes them feel secure.

        He’s probably the only Tory that they can name, however.

        1. Peter2
          November 6, 2021

          Starmer isn’t electable.
          Not as bad a Corbyn but still poor.

    2. Micky Taking
      November 5, 2021

      11 years in power and still unable to get a grip on …..anything?
      Fudged things got progressively bad under Cameron, then deceitful under May, now everywhere you turn is the bullshit idiocy of Johnson.
      ‘Who will rid me of this meddlesome PM?’
      Tory MPs won’t that’s been proven.

      1. Jim Whitehead
        November 5, 2021

        MT, +1, Perfectly reduced to essential truth

    3. Shirley M
      November 5, 2021

      We’ll be asking the same questions every year, until we get serious politicians who put the UK people and the country first (wouldn’t that be an outright novelty!). Roll on the next GE. It cannot come soon enough.

      1. Dennis
        November 5, 2021

        Are there any serious politicians around?

  20. Sharon
    November 5, 2021

    I spent half term in West Sussex and it was quite scary to see the sheer volume and scale of housing being builtā€¦ massive areas alongside country lanesā€¦

    Will those many Somalianā€™s, who may or may not be able to speak English and who may or may not be even be literate really be able to afford to buy a property?

    Who are all these properties to house? And why do property developers never build shops, hospitals, schools, etc?

    In Greater London where I live, single dwellings disappear behind hoarding and re-appear as semi-detachedā€¦ thatā€™s okayā€¦ but anything else seems to re-appear as flatsā€¦ why is it assumed people want to live in a flat?

    To quote Nigel Farage from last night. He said that if he took over Priti Patelā€™s job, heā€™d make himself unpopular, but heā€™d stop all this people trafficking!

    Reader comments elsewhere suggest that the government want all these 100,000ā€™s of economic migrants; they donā€™t seem to be trying very hard to stop them! Some have suggested itā€™s population replacement. I donā€™t thatā€™s correct, but you can forgive them for thinking so.

    1. a-tracy
      November 5, 2021

      The government should make Nigel a Lord and hire him to do this task if they don’t want to and make him eat his words.

    2. Nottingham Lad Himself
      November 6, 2021

      I was listening to a young Sudanese man, interviewed by RAI. He was trapped in Libya, under arrangements with the European Union to keep refugees there, rather than to have them try to cross to Italy.

      He was more articulate, and certainly more clear-minded, than anyone contributing to this site, and in a tongue not his mother one too.

      He and his fellows were being treated appallingly by the Libyans – a country which had some semblance of order, until the US and the UK royally messed it up. He could not go home, and he could not go anywhere else either.

      The general attitude on this site towards such people is utterly reprehensible.

      No, this region cannot cope with the desperate of the entire world, but for pity’s sake – literally – let’s at least recognise what is happening, and thereby have some basis to claim to be a civilised country.

      1. Peter2
        November 6, 2021

        Who is or would be unsympathetic to the plight of many like the person in your example?
        But is the UK or the EU responsible for taking in every person in far off lands which seem to be in a permanent state of disruption through either tribal wars, the effect of terrible despotic governments or being at war with other countries.
        They should stay (as many do) or leave to the nearest place of safety.
        PS
        The majority who come here and claim refugee status or asylum are in the main economic migrants jumping the queue of the proper immigration process in my opinion.

  21. Narrow Shoulders
    November 5, 2021

    Sir John, why not mention the 20,000 Afghan refugees who have recently arrived having surrendered their country with no fight to a bunch of religious zealots? Why not mention welcoming with open arms other refugees who could settle in places closer to their origin?

    Why not mention the cost of downsizing with stamp duty, a punitive tax just to free up assets for cash. Why not mention government fiscal policy, printing money and keeping interest rates unrealistic so that the housing stock that is available is affordable mainly to those who are purchasing as an investment?

    Why not mention the concentration of work in South Eastern cities or other conurbations with poor public transport services outside of these areas which makes rural housing less attractive or impractical in all but a few areas?

    The lack of affordable housing is caused by multiple reasons, of which huge continuous immigration is undoubtedly a factor, but your government is the root cause of it all through the policies it chooses to follow, including not sending illegal immigrants straight back whence they came.

    1. rose
      November 5, 2021

      Not so easy to send them back when they have thrown away their ID or their countries have been designated by the powerful human rights industry not fit to return to.

      1. Narrow Shoulders
        November 5, 2021

        A fully funded, sanitary, camp in the African desert to which to ship them would rapidly stop the flow Rose.

        1. rose
          November 6, 2021

          It was mooted a while ago, in co-operation with Denmark. What has happened about it?

    2. Dennis
      November 5, 2021

      If anyone wants to make a fuss about all these problems you have to block as many roads as you can and take superglue with you. Perhaps only then will govt deem to notice you. But outside of XR there is no one who will do this so relax and prepare to accept dystopia.

      1. Micky Taking
        November 6, 2021

        I’d leave them to the motorists to sort out. I foresee a number of people attending A&E to have their skinless hands etc fixed.

  22. The Prangwizard
    November 5, 2021

    There is no point in hopong and expecting the leadership of your party, ministers or the administration to do anything under ‘Boris’. All we have is deceit, chaos and hypocrisy.

    He and Priti take their orders from overseas, from foreign intersets. As for illegals, no action will be taken to stop them because government redefines tbem. Onve they are here they are no longer consideted illegal. It is said 20,000 have crossed in boats so far; no-one should believe that figure. The hidden truth will be more than double that.

    ‘Boris’ is comtinuing with our country’s destruction in all manner of wsys. He failed to deliver Brexit, control of illegal immigration; he is introducing green totalitarianism and a destruction of the rule of law.

    1. glen cullen
      November 5, 2021

      I predict that the Tories in collusion with Labour in 2030 will establish new laws that every new house has a smart meter fitted and every new electric car has a magic box fitted that can affect and control the energy network, payment of council tax and control journey, payment of vehicle duty, payment of traffic fines and usage limit
      And immigrant still 20,000 per year

  23. Magelec
    November 5, 2021

    All illegal immigrants without papers should be sent to the Ascension Islands for processing. They should stay there until they are granted asylum or sent home.

    1. Sea_Warrior
      November 5, 2021

      Logistically, this just wouldn’t work. I’d set Manston to work again, as both holding centre and airfield.

    2. Micky Taking
      November 6, 2021

      Thats a long way to drop off, good luck to them rowing back!

    3. hefner
      November 9, 2021

      That would requite the MoD and the US military to give them access, as Ascension Island is practically a fortress dedicated to all types of covert operations.

  24. wanderer
    November 5, 2021

    They are very important questions to ask, not least because they are questions that millions of UK voters are asking themselves. I sincerely wish you good luck with it.

    I suppose however, that this government will continue on its wobbly downhill course, assuming that first past the post will keep any viable centre right alternative party from emerging. It’s a depressing situation. Because of our government I can see the majority of us getting poorer in a country that is less and less pleasant to live in. The elites will be fine, though, we don’t have to worry about that.

  25. Everhopeful
    November 5, 2021

    Cold today isnā€™t it?
    Bet itā€™s even chillier in Glasgow.
    9 degrees C apparently.
    ā€œCoat weatherā€.
    šŸ„¶

    1. glen cullen
      November 5, 2021

      Turn up those heat pumps, and heaters to max in the electric cars

      1. Everhopeful
        November 5, 2021

        +1
        šŸ¤—
        Oooo yes! And in their private jets?
        And all the naughty high carbon footprint food the dignitaries are eating!
        Haggis, neeps and tattles 3.4 kg to produce.

        But it isnā€™t hypocrisyā€¦itā€™s an AGENDA.
        And itā€™s not looking good for us.

        1. glen cullen
          November 6, 2021

          Its an agenda thats been mapped out over 10 years ago

    2. Mitchel
      November 5, 2021

      If the temperature drops further,perhaps that piece of iceberg/glacier they have transported all the way from Greenland will stop melting!

      Who is paying for all these myriad gimmicks?

      (Rhetorical question-I’m sure the answer is us-directly or indirectly)

  26. ChrisS
    November 5, 2021

    The complete failure of consecutive Conservative governments to get to grips with both legal and illegal immigration is shameful and is causing serious housing problems at every level. Then there is the effect that the numbers are having culturally on our country and the pressure on local services, including the NHS. Voters have repeatedly expressed their desire to see this problem dealt with in a forthright manner.

    With the total inability of the government to control the problem, perhaps the only remaining answer is to set a maximum level of net inward migration the country can sustain (say, 50,000 pa ? ) and stick to it by reducing legal migration to a level where net inward migration from all sources does not exceed that number.

    It looks like we are going to see upwards of 25,000 illegal migrants this year coming across the channel, so that would mean that next year we limit legal migrants to 25,000.

    1. Wrinke
      November 5, 2021

      There is no competent person in the UK govt. to improve anything as is proved by what is and is not happening so don’t hold your breaths.

  27. majorfrustration
    November 5, 2021

    Boris a one term PM and with Labour returning to power

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      November 5, 2021

      YES !

    2. rose
      November 5, 2021

      And that means we go back into the EU which the Treasury is preparing us for.

      1. Mark B
        November 5, 2021

        We never left

        1. glen cullen
          November 6, 2021

          Correct – We’ve never left….thats why this government could never accept WTO, as the withdraw agreement and NIP keeped the EU door open

  28. Nig l
    November 5, 2021

    Just another example of an endemic culture of failure across government and its civil servants. No one held accountable, no one pays/suffers except the tax payer. You continue to ask probing questions but get brushed off. This will continue until enough of you stamp your collective feet publicly to change the narrative, so never.

    We saw recently yet another excoriating report on procurement in the MOD wasting billions. Answers from the civil servants were pathetic in their lack of detail.

    It was made clear that the only discomfort those responsible suffered was having to put up with the two hours in front of the committee. Zero chance of anything more like being moved on for poor performance.

    When will your topic be performance management of the civil service?

    And in other news we see Ministers desperately back pedalling from the shambles of yesterday. Karteng like a lapdog doing No 10s bidding defending the indefensible and attacking the Commissioner, suggesting she should review her position, yes letā€™s destroy someone to protect one of our own, and today a u turn with the education minister sent out to do No 10s bidding that it was always the plan to improve the process and conflating it with the individual MP was an unfortunate coincidence.

    Yeah right. Treating us like fools again. Keep digging!

  29. Iain Moore
    November 5, 2021

    To be boring I will state again, until you get to the heart of the problem , the 1951 UN Convention of Refugees, and the expansion of it under the further agreements, you will be just wasting your time trying to bribe the French to do your job for you. Of course our political class don’t have the backbone to undo the damage they have done in signing us up to to all these obligations, which is under pinning the invasion of our country. Just like Brexit it is going to be the job of the general public to drag the British establishment, kicking and screaming, into sorting out the mess.

    It is though going to get a whole lot worse, for the Government rather than restricting the terms of asylum , takes every opportunity to expand them , adding LGBT (how do you verify that?) and Climate Change Refugees.

    As to the wider problem of immigration, everytime Boris Johnson opens his mouth he is inviting 100s of thousands more people to come here, even before the points based immigration system has come into effect it is so devalued , with points for everybody , it is going to be open borders by another name. Even Sunak got into the act by offering out visas in his budget .

    One thing I do not understand , the mass immigration policy is in direct conflict with climate change agenda , you can have one but not the other, yet the left have been allowed to pursue these two conflicting policies without any come back from the Conservative party. Why is that? You could really mess them around, point out that as we must all take climate change seriously then severe immigration limits have to be part of that, but you don’t. Is it against the rules to make the Marxists look ridiculous?

  30. JoolsB
    November 5, 2021

    And even if this useless Government quadruple the number of homes built in England, how many of them will go to the indigenous population? As long as we have an immigration system illegal or otherwise which this Government is incapable or reluctant to do anything about and as long as we have such a generous welfare system which actually rewards couples living separately and off the state more than it does hard working couples that stay together, then we will always have a housing crisis. Something Socialist governments, this one included, refuse to recognise.

  31. Newmania
    November 5, 2021

    The yearly arrival of more than 250,000 additional people needing homes compared with the 50,000 a year in the 1980s has required a big increase in building.

    Rubbish . There are comfortably more houses per head of population now than there were in the 60s so if numbers of people were the problem, there would be no problem. Additionally a house costs less now compared to real salary than it did in the 2000s . Prior to needing to jump start construction to save the Brexit- the Blue team had about as much interest in the plight of young renters as I do in John Redwood’s soon to be released Party personal play list of Club Bangerz ( consulted children on that one ) .Conceive of the horror !
    The problem is the ever shrinking size of households caused by old people not dying, singloes , sheer growth and credit. The population has increased under.5% per year since 1963. Big deal , and had it not who would be supporting the the NHS ? Not the old for whose benefit it chiefly exists.
    Every time I start to think oh fcs , I cant vote Labour and .we are stuck with Brexit why bother about it, some silly nonsense of this sort pops up and the rage is renewed. John Redwood ( says wikipedia )is known for being logical and humourless .I would say the reverse, makes me laugh anyway.

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      November 5, 2021

      What planet are you on ? (Wage:price ratio)

    2. rose
      November 5, 2021

      Humourless?!

    3. Peter2
      November 5, 2021

      The biggest increase in population since 2000 in our history.
      Over 5 million extra people (mainly driven by net immigration) and you think it has had no effect on the demand for housing.
      Hilarious Newmania

      1. Newmania
        November 5, 2021

        Since 2016 EU inward migration has collapsed ( other immigration has gone up sharply ).
        While EU citizens have been rushing to leave this hell whole of shortages inflation incompetence and misery House prices have gone up about 30%

        So much for your theory Peter …..

        1. Peter2
          November 6, 2021

          I didn’t say EU immigration.
          I spoke about overall net migration since 2000
          So much for your reading and comprehension ability NM….

        2. rose
          November 6, 2021

          Six and a half million EU citizens have registered to settle here permanently.

    4. Wrinkle
      November 5, 2021

      When a country is vastly overpopulated, as is the UK, even 0.000001% increase is not good.

      1. hefner
        November 7, 2021

        Assuming the presence of 70 million people in the UK, your 0.000001% increase would mean, 10^-8 extra people, i.e., seven tenths of a person. I would assume this bit of a person would encompass everything between their feet and their shoulders. No need for a head nor a brain. That would be quite fitting for this blog, wouldnā€™t it?

        1. Peter2
          November 7, 2021

          Do understand the word cumulative heffy?

    5. John C.
      November 5, 2021

      You make me laugh. We all have fun here!

    6. Micky Taking
      November 6, 2021

      Take your choice newmaniac – – -a calm, thoughtful, logical humourless at worst, or a wild, bullshitting, buffoon idiot brainwashed by crazy zealots?

  32. Alan Joyce
    November 5, 2021

    Dear Mr. Redwood,

    For a long time now our MP’s have been so cowed by fear of being labelled racist that they have sacrificed their fundamental principles for fashionable approval. Only if their own jobs were at stake would they consider doing anything about illegal immigration. Take the example of the Brexit referendum – it was only granted because the Conservative Party was terrified that Nigel Farage was taking big chunks out of its support and, of course, it was so cocksure that the result would be for Remain. And the rest as they say is history.

    In a crisis they always take the easy way out which in the case of people trafficking across the Channel means dispersing them across the UK and making all our lives more miserable in terms of housing, schooling, transportation, seeing a GP, etc.

    Want to do something about housing need and numbers and illegal immigration? Don’t vote for the established cartel. I know it is easier said than done but only if their own futures are threatened will our MP’s be spurred into action.

    Never was there a greater need for an alternative (and competent) party to vote for. I just wish one was in the offing.

    1. rose
      November 5, 2021

      “it was only granted because the Conservative Party was terrified that Nigel Farage was taking big chunks out of its support and, of course, it was so cocksure that the result would be for Remain. And the rest as they say is history.2

      On the contrary, it was about 150 Brexiteers who compelled the PM, Mr Cameron, to grant a referendum, by threatening a leadership contest. Mr Farage could not do that. Nor could PR.

      1. Alan Joyce
        November 5, 2021

        Dear Mr. Redwood,

        @Rose

        I am sure you are right in that pressure from 100 or so Conservative MP’s demanding legislation to
        pave the way for a referendum may have been a contributory factor in Cameron deciding to go ahead with one (inspite of the possibility that he might already have made up his mind to have one). However, it was the naked fear that UKIP, who were rising in the polls on the back of ballooning immigration from Eastern Europe, might cost them their seats at the next election that motivated them to do something.

        Hence my original point that only when their own livelihoods are threatened will our MP’s (with notable exceptions) ‘get off their backsides’. But they act only out of self-preservation.

        1. rose
          November 6, 2021

          No, Alan, the relevant backbenchers were Brexiteers, some of longer standing than Mr Farage. There were more in the party at that time than when Mrs May had lost the majority.

      2. Original Richard
        November 5, 2021

        rose : “On the contrary, it was about 150 Brexiteers who compelled the PM, Mr Cameron, to grant a referendum, by threatening a leadership contest. Mr Farage could not do that. Nor could PR.”

        If it wasn’t for Mr. Farage and UKIP there wouldn’t have been 150 Tory MPs “compelling the PM, Mr. Cameron, to grant a referendum by threatening a leadership contest.”

        Very wise when considering the Conservatives always want to hold onto power and in the 2019 MEP elections the Conservatives came 5th with 1.5m votes whilst UKIP came first with 5.2m votes (PR voting BTW).

        Hopefully a new party will come along to pressure the Conservatives to end large scale immigration and unilateral net zero, both projects of our fifth column communists.

        1. rose
          November 6, 2021

          See my reply to Alan, above.

  33. Donna
    November 5, 2021

    The British people have been demanding, and voting for, reduced immigration since 2010. The CONservative Party has promised to reduce immigration for the same amount of time. They have also promised to deal with illegal migration. They’ve done neither and the inevitable conclusion is that the reason they have failed to do what they promised, in order to get our votes, is because THEY DON’T WANT TO.

    Instead they are carrying out the same self-defeating exercise as a child trying to fill a bucket with a hole at the bottom.

    The questions Sir John should be asking on our behalf are:
    1. “why don’t you want to stop mass immigration when you know it is a vote-loser” and
    2. “why don’t you want to stop the slo-mo invasion across the channel when you know these people are un-vetted (and therefore unsafe) economic migrants, and you know it is a massive vote-loser

    The housing crisis, like every other “crisis” in our public services and with our infrastructure is a direct consequence of their DESIRE not to deal with the above.

    1. Dennis
      November 5, 2021

      Why JR has not asked these questions must be that he doesn’t want to and or he is frightened to do so, ( ‘cos what might others think of him) or he doesn’t consider those points important.

      This might all be wrong but he doesn’t explain why, probably will just say, ‘that’s not true’, as usual.

  34. Christine
    November 5, 2021

    Don’t try and tell me it’s not possible to track the manufacture and supply of these rubber dinghies and outboard motors because that’s not believable. I’ve not heard of one person being arrested for aiding and abetting illegal immigration by supplying these products. My only conclusion is that our Government is complicit in this evil trade and will never do anything to stop it until they are voted out of office.

    1. Donna
      November 5, 2021

      The rubber dinghies are put into storage AT OUR EXPENSE so they can be returned to their owners. The geniuses at the Home Office don’t seem to realise that they won’t be claimed because that would mean the traffickers identifying themselves.

      Doesn’t matter ….. the dinghies are their property so we must pay to store them. It’s only taxpayers’ money after all.

      1. Dennis
        November 5, 2021

        Surely the boats are the property of those who sailed in them – didn’t they pay for them?

  35. rick hamilton
    November 5, 2021

    Government should announce that henceforth nobody landing illegally in this country would be allowed to remain, they would be deported as soon as possible to their country of origin, and they would be banned from entering the UK ever again under any circumstances. The people traffickers would give up as soon as the news got out.

    The trouble is that the 80-seat majority Con party are either incapable of enforcing our own laws, or even worse, do not want to.

  36. glen cullen
    November 5, 2021

    Billions wiped off the banking shares yesterday as Rishi Sunak anticipated interest rate rise didnā€™t materialiseā€¦another mini u-turn perhaps

    1. Everhopeful
      November 5, 2021

      ā€œBad boyfriendā€ technique as practised by Carney.
      Blatant market manipulation.
      Or maybe they do hope for vast inflationā€¦to destroy the ā€œrentier classā€?
      They are certainly doing their darnedest.

      1. Mitchel
        November 5, 2021

        Expropriate the expropriators!

  37. ukretired123
    November 5, 2021

    You only need to look at the daily state of the road and rail networks to realise we are a country devoid of true leadership. Snarled up or stitched up and paying through the nose for it.

    1. Dennis
      November 5, 2021

      If I look at the state of roads from TV documentary cars travelling in Africa, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, China, Taiwan, Mongolia etc., etc., etc, I have never seen a single pothole!

  38. paul
    November 5, 2021

    How long are you going put up with kids running the show, John.

    1. Dennis
      November 5, 2021

      paul – good question but you’ll never get an answer – am I right JR?

    2. Micky Taking
      November 6, 2021

      I’m more concerned about the grown-ups ‘running’ the show who are totally unaware of the shambles left in their wake.

  39. John Miller
    November 5, 2021

    The only immigrant I know of who has repeatedly been threatened with deportation is the Brazilian lady who happens to be the wife of one of my sons!
    They tried to arrive by dinghy but were defeated by the waves of the mid-Atlantic, so settled on a 747 to Heathrow…

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      November 5, 2021

      As do most people by far who are here unlawfully.

      They land normally on visas and then just melt into the crowd.

      They dwarf the number arriving by dinghy, and have done for years.

      1. Micky Taking
        November 6, 2021

        yep …..total lack of control and if Russians want to visit Salisbury for the ‘weekend’ they can….

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          November 6, 2021

          It was and is the Tories, who have never properly implemented eBorders to count people in and out again, and who scuppered Labour’s ID cards proposal, and who do not propose to maintain a residence register as do e.g. France.

          You get for what you vote.

          1. Peter2
            November 6, 2021

            Rubbish NHL
            15 years of Labour from 1997 meant open doors and an increase from 50,000 per year to 300,000 a year.
            You need a new history book.
            Impossible to count with freedom of movement.

          2. hefner
            November 9, 2021

            A history book would tell you that on 6 May 2010, Labour lost. So 15 years, I donā€™t think so.

  40. Mark J
    November 5, 2021

    This Government still does not seem to grasp that the more people you allow into the country, the more houses, schools, hospitals and GP surgeries are needed in addition.

    It was also correctly stated yesterday on Talkradio; The Government was quick enough to legislate covid restrictions, but is somewhat slower and dragging its feet at passing legislation regarding illegal migration.

    If your Government DOES NOT sort this issue, then expect to lose your majority come the next election. There is no way you will win, if illegal channel crossing are then still running at existing numbers, or even higher.

    In a way I hope the Tories lose the next three by-elections. Boris has become utterly complacent and needs an urgent wake up call.

    1. DavidJ
      November 5, 2021

      Covid is/was to our disadvantage. So is not deporting illegal immigrants as is much else in government policy. Just join the dots.

    2. Dennis
      November 5, 2021

      Perhaps it is just too difficult to make the UK a prosperous wonderful country to live in so the policy might be to impoverish the UK and then rely on nice loads of aid from the US and China, no?

  41. MWB
    November 5, 2021

    Get some immigrants deported, and stop importing others.
    Turn the boats back mid-channel.
    Perhaps the reason that the above is not carried out, is that johnson and his corrupt party are in it for themselves, and that money changes hands. Surely not !
    Egged on by Labour, who do it because they hate the English, and because most English are too stupid to see that a vote for either party, is a vote for more and more immigration and more and more corruption.
    3rd world.

    1. glen cullen
      November 5, 2021

      The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS)
      1979 INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON MARITIME SEARCH AND RESCUE (SAR CONVENTION) obliges State Parties to ā€˜… ensure that assistance [is] provided to any person in distress at sea … regardless of the nationality or status of such a person or the circumstances in which that person is foundā€™ (Chapter 2.1.10) and to ā€˜… provide for their initial medical or other needs, and deliver them to a place of safetyā€™ (Chapter 1.3.2). https://www.unhcr.org/450037d34.pdf

      SOLAS doesnā€™t state that any UK vessel has a duty to take ā€˜illegal immigrantsā€™ to the UK it states a safe harbour i.e France and not Libya

  42. formula57
    November 5, 2021

    You ask about Government immigration efforts <“When will more success be announced? and I can answer you: the very next time Mrs. Patel feels under pressure to show she is pretending to do her job, in conformity with her promises.

    As for the quite different question of “when will there be more success?”, I can answer that too – when we have a Government that is on the side of the people. We do not seem to have had one of those for a long while, alas.

    1. DavidJ
      November 5, 2021

      Well said formula57.

  43. Giles Brennand
    November 5, 2021

    The vast majority of students could receive perfectly satisfactory at their nearest university (let alone online).

    Instead we have 300k students a year leaving home to take up residence the other side of the country simply so that they can ā€˜find themselvesā€™, and evade oversight, parental or otherwise, of youthful excesses. So that is a million students taking up accommodation when they already have perfectly satisfactory rooms at home. And at vast additional expense for catering, laundry, utility bills etc

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      November 5, 2021

      An original insight !

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        November 5, 2021

        Most of them should not be at university at all !

        Going to university was top of the tree in my day.

  44. Nota#
    November 5, 2021

    Sir John
    I am not sure if you are just baiting us this morning, or are following current Conservative trends and morphing into a Socialist.

    Your inferred pressure on housing is twofold, the Conservative Government is ‘giving’ homes to illegal’s therefore criminals, that have been paid for by the UK taxpayer. A taxpayer that after contributing to the Governments pot is not entitled to the same privilege’s as criminals that haven’t contributed. You couldn’t make it up but there it is playing out in real time.

    As for the developers they are playing the same game(because they can) as all activists. All the major players in the building industry have at least 10 years of approved building schemes in their land banks, and so they should. The problem is, as Governments are fore ever buckling, is that you only ‘sell’ when you get to maximise profits. Therefore when Governments offer inducements to encourage the market, not only do those that can afford get subsidised by those that cant – the taxpayer, the Builder gets to maximise profits.

    1. DavidJ
      November 5, 2021

      +1

  45. Nota#
    November 5, 2021

    @Nota# – Builders would release more homes on to the market if the land with approval was subject to the same local rates as everyone else if approved building wasn’t started within say 3 years,

    1. Nottingham Lad Himself
      November 5, 2021

      The problem is not the starting of construction – almost anything can be claimed to be that – it is the completion.

      Many land bankers get PP which multiplies the land’s value, nominally begin construction within the time limit, and then simply cease.

      Planning authorities should also be able to stipulate *completion* as a condition, subject to reasonable provisos.

  46. Nota#
    November 5, 2021

    “to house illegal migrants in hotels rather than other housing”

    The pressure will build and build until they are sent back to there departure point. The UK Government in this is funding and creating those that have a business in illegal trafficking – the UK Government is complicit in this illegal highly profitable trade.

    France its self will not hand taxpayer funds to criminals – hence their wish to escape.

    1. rose
      November 5, 2021

      “Most of us condemn people trafficking. Ministers want the profiteers arrested and taken out of circulation. Their businesses should be stopped.”

      We have to stop exonerating and sentimentalising the illegal immigrants themselves. In every other criminal or immoral trade, the customer is also held responsible and rightly so. You could easily make out a case for the traffickers being exploited, though I wouldn’t.

      1. rose
        November 5, 2021

        We are told the racket is costing us at least Ā£1 billion a year. Why aren’t the begetters of all this expense being billed?

        1. Nottingham Lad Himself
          November 5, 2021

          Picking up litter and clearing dog muck also costs us well over a billion a year.

          1. Micky Taking
            November 6, 2021

            solution ? – -ban dogs going outside of homes? Ban take-away food sales?

          2. Peter2
            November 6, 2021

            Wrong again NHL
            That is approx the total figure that Councils spend on re-cycling and dealing with all wastes.

  47. bigneil - newer comp
    November 5, 2021

    853 IN ONE DAY – – a burden on us – from the moment they left France – until ???
    PP STILL keeps her job – probably a very large bonus too.
    UK – – 100 %DESTRUCTION PLANS – – ON FULL THROTTLE – AND UNSTOPPABLE.

    1. glen cullen
      November 5, 2021

      The French two years estimated that there where only 4,000 illegal immigrants in the greater Calais area ā€“ so where have all the other 16,000 came fromā€¦.across the whole of Europe ā€“ weā€™re now the target

    2. DavidJ
      November 5, 2021

      Indeed.

  48. Iain Moore
    November 5, 2021

    Farage tweets today about the comments from a Calais politician , who says the numbers of migrants in the area are incalculable , Farage suggest Priti Patel had better get on an book the remaining hotel space .

    1. Donna
      November 5, 2021

      Nigel needs to stop tweeting and start campaigning. He’s about the only thing that scare the bejesus out of the Commie-CONs and is therefore likely to get results.

    2. No Longer Anonymous
      November 5, 2021

      Yes. The word has spread globally. The Tory Govt has dismantled our borders – albeit by loophole – and now we have the predictable stampede.

      It’s not the act itself so much as the lies and the insult to our intelligence.

      It makes a mockery of every single policy, from Covid to law-and-order to national defence to greenism…

    3. Blazes
      November 5, 2021

      With article sixteen about to be invoked on the NI protocol we now hear the EU is planning to move EU customs officials from Calais over to Ireland on secondment to shore up the Irish customs officers.. necessary but all in order to secure the EU borders.

      1. rose
        November 6, 2021

        Meanwhile, over the Croatian border come illegal immigrants, contraband, unfit meat, slaves, drugs, guns, bombs…nothing, however illicit and dangerous, seems to worry the EU.

      2. Bitterend
        November 6, 2021

        Yes and with the expected suspension of normal EU trade and then with Calais being closed off plans are in place now for some of the cross channel ferries to be redeployed to Irish ports for shipping direct to the continent given that the land bridge for irish haulage across Britain will be largely closed off.

    4. beresford
      November 5, 2021

      Farage also said that he has intelligence that the smugglers intend to bring larger boats to the Channel next year. The longer our politicians prevaricate the more the flow will accelerate and the nastier will be the fallout from the actions we are forced to take. Clearly the entire Third World cannot be accommodated in a small island in the Atlantic.

      1. rose
        November 6, 2021

        Each one of these young men is but a bridgehead.

      2. Nottingham Lad Himself
        November 6, 2021

        You need to belong to some kind of alliance which includes the countries from which they set off to sea, Beresford.

        Then within that, you could press your case for solidarity and for joint action, couldn’t you?

        Oh, and don’t call them nasty toiletty names either.

        1. Peter2
          November 6, 2021

          Rubbish NHL
          If you mean the EU then treaty law means no ability to stop immigration.
          Surely you this?
          Solidarity..lol

  49. Iago
    November 5, 2021

    Just out of interest, is it possible to book a room in a reasonable hotel nowadays?

  50. agricola
    November 5, 2021

    Pressure on housing is just one symptom of the failure of the Home Office to deal with immigration. It is long overdue that Priti Patel came clean and explained exactly why almost no illegal immigrants have been expelled/deported.

    The 250,000 immigrant arrivals per annum do not for some time enter the house buying market at Ā£200,000 to Ā£400,000 a time, they rent. The buyers are the established legitimate population moving from large cities where the way of life has changed markedly from that which they consider normal. Additionally there is a drift due to WFH. I would imagine that the war against the motorist conducted by largely socialist city councils convinces many to seek a less onerous and expensive way of life.

    Control immigration, deport all illegals and you will begin to see a reduction in pressure on both the need for housing and virtually all other public services that are under equal pressure.

  51. Diane
    November 5, 2021

    I feel very sad for those of us here now and those who will follow, even just observing the several campaigns Iā€™m increasingly aware of in my already over populated part of the UK where thousands of people are fighting to try to protect areas from multiple thousands of homes proposed often in areas of historic landscapes, medieval settlements / villages, unsustainable areas. There is no denial from these people that homes are needed but the sheer scale is a scandal. Talking here of developments of around 4000 to 7000 homes in some cases. There are often complaints of a total disconnect between government / policy & councils and councillors, accusation of secrecy, lies and lack of transparency and threats of compulsory land purchase should landowners not, letā€™s say, toe the line. I despair at what is happening in this country & this issue is just a part. I believe along with all else in the offing, that this and the migration situation will lose the Conservatives the next election and the vote of any others who are just conservative. Mayor of Calais reportedly statingā€¦ ā€˜ for them (migrants) England remains the El Dorado but the British Government does not have the courage to review its legislation …ā€™ Totally and wilfully blind, our failure is their failure too but in our case, new legislation too long awaited and when it comes, little that will offer meaningful solutions, not just my opinion either.

    Best banner displayed seen on line today, states : ā€œ Control the Borders not our Boilersā€ !

    1. Iain Moore
      November 7, 2021

      The Government has decided it is less trouble concreting over England than restricting immigration.

  52. a-tracy
    November 5, 2021

    Governments reward people for bad behaviour, claiming as single parents when the boyfriend lives there and father’s several children, all the time Mum is claiming she is alone (you’d think that would alert the authorities but it doesn’t).

    I know a guy mid 50’s never left home, his Mum died so they took her 3-bed council house off him, fair enough you’d say three-bedroomed homes are required for people with children and he is alone, although where they moved him to is not near to a high employment area or good public transport, he is living in a maisonette amongst elderly retired people in the second storey, he doesn’t drive, used to walk to work and lost his job in covid, he is struggling to get another job hardly able to manage on job seekers, now suffering from depression and anxiety and will probably end up on incapacity benefits. He has never been out of work from the age of 16, used to work nights in a difficult job thrown on a scrap heap and is spiralling down.

    I wondered who was prioritised for his old 3 bedroomed home – a complete family unit mother, father 3 children unable to afford their private rental due to a change of job and Mum having a baby under 1 to care for. Don’t be silly.

  53. John Hatfield
    November 5, 2021

    It would help if the RNLI shipped potential illegal immigrants back to France where they should have remained instead of helping them get here. Unlike the indigenous folk, the government seems happy to welcome them in.

  54. DavidJ
    November 5, 2021

    Why should we, the taxpayers, pay to house illegal immigrants? Surely the cost of an air ticket back to their own country or, better still, a military transport for a full load of them would be far better solution.

  55. Micky Taking
    November 5, 2021

    Following Friday’s meeting, a UK spokesperson said Lord Frost had indicated “the EU’s proposals did not currently deal effectively with the fundamental difficulties in the way the protocol was operating”.
    “He underlined that the UK’s preference was still to find a consensual solution that protected the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and the everyday lives of people in Northern Ireland,” the spokesperson added. Before the meeting, Lord Frost had warned time was running out on the talks.
    He had said the UK was not going to trigger Article 16 on Friday, although this was “very much on the table and has been since July”.
    There is growing speculation that the UK is planning to use Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol in the coming weeks. The Irish government says such a move would be “reckless and irresponsible”, and Maros Sefcovic has warned it could result in “serious consequences”.
    Ultimately, the EU could impose tariffs on UK goods – but that would only be possible after a lengthy arbitration process. The arbitrators would first have to find that the UK is in breach of the protocol.

    It all points to the mistake of not triggering Article 16 IN THE FIRST PLACE!

  56. Original Richard
    November 5, 2021

    Any discussion regarding the availability of housing in the UK is really all about immigration.

    The government, despite manifesto promises and knowing that 70% of voters want a curb on immigration, are still determined to bring 300K new people into the country each year plus continue to encourage illegal immigrants, mainly fighting age men whom we cannot identify and have no knowledge of their reason for coming, to come with free accommodation, Ā£40/week pocket money and the freedom to roam our streets.

    Mrs. May signed the country up to the UNā€™s Global Compact for Migration (UN GCM) without the countryā€™s consent, not even a vote in Parliament, a project designed to destroy the economies of both the developed and undeveloped nations and the nation states of the developed world through social conflict.

    The UN GCM encourages developed nations, many of whom are living beyond their means, to save money by importing skilled people from underdeveloped countries rather than train their own.

    The undeveloped nations are then deprived of the skilled people they really need to improve their economies and quite likely decide to train less people themselves rather than pay for the cost of training only to have these skilled people leave.

    Unskilled people move from the undeveloped to the developed countries causing a lowering of wages levels in the developed nations plus causing social conflict as a result of immigrants naturally wishing to continue with the practices and cultures from which they came rather than integrate into their host country.

    The UN GCM is immoral and should be ended before it causes any further damage to both the developed and undeveloped World.

  57. Edwardm
    November 5, 2021

    We are a crowded island, with a housing shortage, yet illegal immigrants are allowed to stay, pushing up demand and costs, and it is renters and first time buyers who bear the brunt of this. All the housebuilding we are doing will never meet demand, it’ll be endless.
    Illegal immigrants are breaking our immigration rules that everyone else has to obey, why can they do so with impunity, why are they not sent back ?
    Why isn’t anyone from the Border Force or the RNLI being charged with facilitating illegal immigration? They should land rescued people back in France, else leave it to French ships to do the rescuing.
    Clearly our government (who are in charge of Border Force) and the political class is complicit in this, showing contempt to the majority of the British people, and has been so for 20+ years.
    Because of that, I suggest we need a referendum on this matter to send a message to the political class.
    Do ask questions in the house. We also need to ensure industry uses British workers – I know of redundant skilled engineers who cannot get work – yet industry keeps asking to employ foreigners.

  58. Turboterrier
    November 5, 2021

    Nigel Lawson has it about right and it is not only with Net Zero. By the time the real impact of all these decisions come to light all those responsible will not be around. GB news tonight the Farage stand in was not taking prisoners, about the 800 + arrivals, it seems that the French Mayor of Calais puts the blame firmly on the British government and its soft touch easy to access benefits arrangements. A retired immigration official said none will be removed from the UK. Only when the dingy people realise that all the trip is going to get them is a camp in a or on foreign soil, will the flow stop. Slap my backside who would have ever thought of that. Time for all the talking and posturing to stop and real action replaces it.

    https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/net-zero-is-a-disastrous-solution-to-a-nonexistent-problem?

  59. glen cullen
    November 5, 2021

    In other important world news
    The Indian State of Delhi has decided to do away with electric vehicle subsidies
    https://www.teslarati.com/delhi-india-electric-vehicle-subsidies-stopped/?fbclid=IwAR1YSpTFOmC9XTwolksfAIgopY3t9vBHOsk2wK9dk3UAwQPeVe3SN0JPj-U

  60. ChrisS
    November 5, 2021

    Off topic, I know but this is personal and, no doubt, our host will have constituents and others posting here who will experience a similar situation.

    Approaching the age of 70 on the 13th of this month, I submitted my application for a new driving licence several weeks ago, knowing that there are problems at the DVLA. I could not apply online because I have a licence to drive vehicles and trailers up to a train mass of 12 tons and therefore had to have a medical ( Ā£90 ).

    It is now one week before my licence expires and I have heard nothing. The phone lines are not answered and the Live Chat line is closed. There is an online system that tells you if the application has been dealt with but in my case it still shows that my licence expires next Saturday.

    I am driving on a combined business trip and holiday abroad on 2nd December and naturally I cannot go without a driving licence.

    How can the government allow the DVLA to become such an embarrassing national joke ?
    I have written to my MP, Christopher Chope, but hold out little chance of saving my trip, given that the website quotes “eight to ten weeks” to process paper applications. I could not submit it any earlier because the medical report would not have been valid by the time my birthday arrived.

    More MPS need to be asking questions about the situations at Swansea and ministers need to get to grips with the problem, fast.

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