Quote Originally Posted by baggieal View Post
I like Burnham but for me the leadership team of Labour are clowns. Illegal immigration is getting worse and Starmers one out and a thousand in is laughable. Anyone dealing in human rights ie lawyers are getting super rich. I know one driving around in an open top Porsche. Meanwhile our homeless will start to freeze on the streets,

Don?t like Trump but two things he said the other day are spot on:

Illegal immigration is killing the U.K. and they need to get a grip.

The only way to stop Russia is if NATO stop feeding their killing machines and buying Russian oil. It?s unbelievable that Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey are still spending millions in Russian oil and France and Netherlands amongst others are still buying liquefied oil. He?s right - it?s unbelievable!

Obviously there?s other things he says which is crap but not the above!
I don't think anyone can argue that the levels of illegal immigration in this country are unsustainable and far too costly to the public purse, especially at a time when so many in this country are struggling financially and core sectors (health care, education, housing) are failing. It desperately needs dealing with, but I do not believe there is an easy answer to it unless you take the rather unpalatable course of sinking the small boats if they don't turn back to stop them entering in the first place.

However, despite the high profile given to illegal immigration in the media and whipped up by populism, I really do not believe that this is the root problem of all our ills. No doubting at all that it is a problem, but immigration alone is not "killing" the UK, but rather inequality and the greed of the few. It is too often used as a scapegoat and deflection by people like Trump.

The data:
UK
Year end 2024 -38,784 detected illegal immigration. 81% of these via small boats. This was 26% down on previous year.

Jan-April 2025 saw 8064 arrive, up on the 7567 for same period 2024. Much was made of the 656 who crossed on one day alone but actually far more (a staggering 1305) crossed on 3 Sept 2022. Whilst Labour have certainly not got to grips with it, it was under Conservative rule that illegal boat crossings became a big issue.I

US
Trump's first presidency inherited fairly low numbers and there is no disputing that they ramped up quickly under Biden