Foreigners arriving in the UK in small boats are not welcome.

[_Stefan_Kuntz]

But a foreigner who arrives in a big £100 million boat that he owns will be welcome if he is a Russian oligarch, friend of Putin and has already transferred at least £1 million into the Conservative Party bank account.

[Blackdogblue]

Send it back blood money… & prepare for the influx on the Cumbrian coast when they take the long way round 😀

[Chauncey]

I suppose you can see the UK as a business so why wouldn't you welcome the visitor in the £100 million boat,he may be here to put business our way

The UK can't keep taking illegal immigrants and expect to house and feed them and that's a fact so something has to be done,it's not racism but common sense

[cayambe]

It is a dreadful moral dilemma. I see a comment on the proposed approach is that would affect those with a valid asylum who choose the channel route. I guess that the government should establish an efficient process to review such applications while ensuring that those from Albania etc do not "jump" the queue. The arrival of refugees from the Ukraine clearly show that the UK is open to those who need our help.

[griff]

We’re currently trying to help those from Ukraine, Afghanistan and Syria with more from some ethnicities in Iran. When I worked in Immigration we were allowing around 10% of asylum claims, rising to 20%-25% after appeal. Now I’ve heard it’s 61% mainly because those from the groups mentioned above have a clearer right to asylum and many are pre-cleared. I reckon at least 95% of those coming on the boats are economic migrants who know that they can claim asylum on arrival, get stuck in the system then disappear into the soft economy.

I’m no right winger but I have some sympathies with the proposed approach. If a person has a genuine asylum claim it can be made elsewhere along his/her journey. Crossing the channel in a boat suggests to me that the primary purpose of that person is the enter the UK, NOT ASYLUM. Crossing in a boat to a beach is an attempt to circumvent immigration control and is therefore illegal. They can therefore be removed. QED.

[cayambe]

We’re currently trying to help those from Ukraine, Afghanistan and Syria with more from some ethnicities in Iran. When I worked in Immigration we were allowing around 10% of asylum claims, rising to 20%-25% after appeal. Now I’ve heard it’s 61% mainly because those from the groups mentioned above have a clearer right to asylum and many are pre-cleared. I reckon at least 95% of those coming on the boats are economic migrants who know that they can claim asylum on arrival, get stuck in the system then disappear into the soft economy.

I’m no right winger but I have some sympathies with the proposed approach. If a person has a genuine asylum claim it can be made elsewhere along his/her journey. Crossing the channel in a boat suggests to me that the primary purpose of that person is the enter the UK, NOT ASYLUM. Crossing in a boat to a beach is an attempt to circumvent immigration control and is therefore illegal. They can therefore be removed. QED.

Good contribution Griff.

[howoldboy]

The Conservatives have been in power for 13 years and during that time just about every problem in the UK has deteriorated.

Their latest plan to stop the boats will fail just as all their others have.

They are simply playing political games in a desperate attempt to stay in power.

Braverman yesterday was unable to say how someone with links to the UK fleeing persecution could come to the UK via a safe and legal route. That is because they are not doing anything to provide safe and legal channels. Consequently the number of people getting in boats continues to increase.

Their main objective is not to stop the boats. It is to stir up hatred against foreigners.

It is a desperate UKIP type policy decision aimed at saving their skins at the next election.

No fair minded person should fall for it.

[griff]

The Conservatives have been in power for 13 years and during that time just about every problem in the UK has deteriorated.

Their latest plan to stop the boats will fail just as all their others have.

They are simply playing political games in a desperate attempt to stay in power.

Braverman yesterday was unable to say how someone with links to the UK fleeing persecution could come to the UK via a safe and legal route. That is because they are not doing anything to provide safe and legal channels. Consequently the number of people getting in boats continues to increase.

Their main objective is not to stop the boats. It is to stir up hatred against foreigners.

It is a desperate UKIP type policy decision aimed at saving their skins at the next election.

No fair minded person should fall for it.

There’s a lot of sense in that. I’d add that our first expectation is that a person fearing or suffering persecution in his/her own country should seek to move to a safe area in their own country rather than heading for the UK. Setting up legal channels in countries where there are safe enclaves stops that happening. Foreign governments tend not to be in favour of the UK or any other country setting up what looks to them like an asylum shop unless they are war-ravaged. Embassies can provide a service but are avoided by genuine asylum seekers because they are too easily identified and would still have to live in the country where they are being oppressed while their case is being considered. Legal channels work work in the camps though.

We need a deterrent. Any ideas?

[6EQUJ5]

The processing of various categories of incomers is pathetic, leading to incredible amounts of money being spent on hotels of the full range of quality and price.
At PMQs both Sunak and Starmer preached to their respective choirs. But Sunak lost this confrontation. The Conservative government has presided over an utter shambles and Sunak is now talking tough, indeed too tough for decent people to tolerate, yet not tough enough for the likes of the ERG Group who are surely on manoeuvres against him along with several other factions of the parliamentary party, including Johnson and his fans.
Beware the Ides Of May like, eh.

[cayambe]

The Conservatives have been in power for 13 years and during that time just about every problem in the UK has deteriorated.

Their latest plan to stop the boats will fail just as all their others have.

They are simply playing political games in a desperate attempt to stay in power.

Braverman yesterday was unable to say how someone with links to the UK fleeing persecution could come to the UK via a safe and legal route. That is because they are not doing anything to provide safe and legal channels. Consequently the number of people getting in boats continues to increase.

Their main objective is not to stop the boats. It is to stir up hatred against foreigners.

It is a desperate UKIP type policy decision aimed at saving their skins at the next election.

No fair minded person should fall for it.

And how would you resolve the issue - or is it that you don't see it as a problem?