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If you want to know what not to believe or how the public does not think about the issue of immigration, just pick up a copy of The Guardian. Another example of what we mean came this week from Zoe Williams in her piece titled, ‘Want to know the problem, Tories? You’re … weird. And even your own tribe thinks so.‘ Here is her take:
“The Conservative leadership candidates also come off as weird, for their obsessive focus on things no one else is talking about: leaving the European convention on human rights; a cap on migrants (and whose cap is the lowest); the scourge of woke.”
Not being discussed? Perhaps Ms Williams hasn’t seen the latest YouGov polling. Remember this one from the 17 August edition of our newsletter? Then, another YouGov tracker poll two weeks later (2 September) found that 69% of the public now think that immigration has been too high over the past 10 years. The same poll found immigration tying at 49% with the economy as the most important issue facing the country. 40% thought immigration had been mostly bad for Britain, double the number who thought it mostly good. Who exactly is being weird here? Or should that be, disingenuous?
The truth is there’s a growing, and we believe dangerous, disconnect between the political elite and the public on immigration. Voter concern has reverted to the levels of 8-10 years ago.
Despite this, Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour government are fumbling the issue. They have no clear strategy on immigration and seem unwilling to address out of control legal migration. On illegal arrivals, having prematurely abandoned the Rwanda plan – we wrote about this last week (how ironic that the Germans are now thinking of picking up where we left off, utilising the accommodation we generously put in place for them), Yvette Cooper’s plan now seems limited to appointing a Border Security chief— a role the Home Secretary has found difficult to fill. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge about illegal immigration is only too aware that whoever is appointed will be on a hiding to nothing because they are bound to fail. Whoever takes the job might as well cash in the severance package on day one. This strategy has already been tried at home and abroad, and it didn’t work. You can’t just ‘smash’ the gangs. While making life difficult for them is necessary, the only way to stop the boats is to detain and quickly remove anyone making their way here illegally from a safe country. It should be made clear that those arriving this way will not be granted asylum. There will still be those who try to get here by any means but there will also be fewer tragedies, as we again saw this week with twelve more lives lost.
As it is, illegal crossings have already surpassed last year’s figures. Meanwhile, we pay the French hundreds of millions to escort migrant boats into British waters.
Legal immigration is off the charts. There has been net migration of around 1.5 million in just two years, with an inflow of 2.5 million. We also know from Office for National Statistics (ONS) projections that (based on much lower net migration than we are currently experiencing) our population will increase by 6.2 million people by 2036, and that 92% of this increase will be from migrants and children born to them. This is simply unsustainable.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government’s response? A shrug. It is clear they do not see sky-high immigration as a problem. Consider this written ministerial statement in Parliament this week on both legal and illegal migration. Although, it is mostly focused on the boats and asylum.
A do-nothing, waffle statement if ever there was one. It has absolutely nothing of note or new on illegal or legal migration. On the boats, we are reminded that they are going to smash the gangs – they will not. They will also get rid of the backlog (for this read we will wave them through / declare an amnesty). In other words, instead of dealing with asylum seekers with central government resources, the onus for housing and keeping them will be passed to local government and the costs seemingly reduced at a stroke.
This was the statement’s final paragraph:
“The government’s intention is to return to using long-standing dispersed asylum accommodation and will do so as soon as is practicable, once we have made progress on clearing the backlog. Any decision regarding the use of accommodation sites will be fully considered, with a firm focus on value for money and ensuring proper standards are in place.”
Classic civil service waffle.
With net migration (including those coming illegally) we can expect at least another couple of million people to be added to our population, resulting in added pressure on everything from housing and the NHS to schools and transport. And do not be surprised if social tensions too worsen.
The first step to solving the Channel crisis is to face reality and take back control of our borders. We must take a close look at the legal framework and the judicial over-reach that has taken hold of the system. The ECHR is no longer fir for purpose and the Human Rights Act (HRA) is a major obstacle to the removal of migrants with no right to be here. They should both go. But we must not kid ourselves that pulling away from the ECHR and ripping up the HRA will be the silver bullet that pulls the curtain down on illegal immigration. But without them, it will be a hell of a lot easier to remove people with no right to be here.
As for legal migration, the only way we can control and reduce it is by imposing a cap. This does not mean ending all immigration. But it does mean we would be able to reduce net migration from the catastrophic levels we now have. What should net migration be? We think no more than a 100,000 per year.
The time to act is now.
This is a preview of Migration Watch’s free weekly newsletter. Please consider signing up to the newsletter directly, you can do so here and will receive an email copy of the newsletter every week as soon as it is released.