... to think that Nigel Farage will be our next PM?

I don’t think there is a convincing claim here.

If it was as easy as you say to use DA as a deterrent all the countries that still have it would use it that way.

Can you say why they choose not to?

"Illegal migration was not at the levels we are seeing now or under the Tories, the highest yearly amount was under Sunak."

This from the Telegraph.
"A record 20,600 migrants have crossed the Channel so far in 2025 alone, up around 50 per cent on the total at the same point last year and the biggest number in the first six months since the first arrivals in 2018. Nearly 44,000 migrants have arrived since Labour came into power in July last year."

Well done Labour.

A handful went to Ireland but boat crossings did not reduce.

Illegal migration was not at the levels we are seeing now or under the Tories, the highest yearly amount was under Sunak.

Rwanda, if it had happened, would have taken about 2% of all boat crossings, so 98 out of 100 people crossing would have remained in the UK.

Sunak of course could have delayed the GE, got Rwanda up and running and won the election.... but he knew it was a bat shit policy.

The only solution is International agreement, with France, on returns to other couuntries and breaking up criminal gangs but it will not be quick.

Leaving the EU, as Chris Philp said very clearly, has hampered attempts to return migrants.

You and others can dismiss this for your own political ends but he really should know.

UK consumer confidence up again!

I certainly hope he is.

At this point just to upset the boring idiots who just keep saying "aaaah he's so racist" on repeat.

What did he said that contradicts (factually).what I said about small boats and Brexit? Not what you think I think as a "lefty". But what I actually said?

I don't think people are wrong to be concerned about how immigration affects them. I don't think people are wrong to be concerned with the boats crossings (the fact this makes up a small percentage of overall migration doesn't mean politicians should ignore it)

But you said "educate yourself" as though there.was something in there which would turn what I think on its head. He didn't make any convincing case for Brexit not making the small boats issue worse.

What did he said that contradicts (factually).what I said about small boats and Brexit? Not what you think I think as a "lefty". But what I actually said?

I don't think people are wrong to be concerned about how immigration affects them. I don't think people are wrong to be concerned with the boats crossings (the fact this makes up a small percentage of overall migration doesn't mean politicians should ignore it)

But you said "educate yourself" as though there.was something in there which would turn what I think on its head. He didn't make any convincing case for Brexit not making the small boats issue worse.

Might I suggest you watch this with an open mind. You will (in the words of the left) "educate" yourself in what is actually happening. We have lost.control.

A handful went to Ireland but boat crossings did not reduce.

Illegal migration was not at the levels we are seeing now or under the Tories, the highest yearly amount was under Sunak.

Rwanda, if it had happened, would have taken about 2% of all boat crossings, so 98 out of 100 people crossing would have remained in the UK.

Sunak of course could have delayed the GE, got Rwanda up and running and won the election.... but he knew it was a bat shit policy.

The only solution is International agreement, with France, on returns to other couuntries and breaking up criminal gangs but it will not be quick.

Leaving the EU, as Chris Philp said very clearly, has hampered attempts to return migrants.

You and others can dismiss this for your own political ends but he really should know.

UK consumer confidence up again!

People have unrealistic time scales, we kept giving the Tories chance after chance to improve things, they never did but now think Labour can turn things around inside 12 months.

The Tories, in some ways were very clever, they made sure that there were some large funding gaps, so PO &Blood compensation, public sector pay rises, the NI cuts, nothing set aside.....

Then shout "But you re in power now, deal with it"

So of course this, as you say, leaves the public disillusioned.

Is Farage any worse that any other politician/party though, when they keep telling us they are going to reduce immigration, but make no or little effort to do so ?

Or worse that parties who tell us they are going to deliver better and wonderful services without any tax rises ?

Or year after year politicians promising they will deliver on housing, then never building the numbers they said they were going to ?

The whole of politics appears to be pretty untrustworthy at the moment.

People don't really trust any of the main parties to deliver, which is why fringe parties like Reform can gain traction.

Eventually people just get so fed up of politicians going back on their promises they are willing to through the dice in the hope it may make things better.

Experience and competence is what Reform currently lack.

Experience and competence are not optional when running a government.
Also, the previous post you quoted said Reform had 'answers'. What are those fabled 'answers'?
I distrust Farage because when he pushed for Leave he argued that he knew the EU from the inside, and indeed, he must have known how immigration worked and about the agreements we had in place. He must have known how destructive leaving would be - not just economically, but for his pet topic: immigration control. Yet, he pushed for leave on the basis of 'taking back control of our borders' knowing full well that Brexit would make things much more difficult to police. Tell me, is that a trust-worthy stance? Or rather an opportunistic move of the worst kind?

Very true. We are run by a human rights lawyer after all. And have a particularly interesting Attorney General.

Dublin hardly stopped illegal immigration before Brexit though. It's not exactly a new phenomenon.

Rwanda was stopped by Keir Starmer before it had even started so we will never know whether it could have been a deterrent. Bearing in mind illegals were going to Ireland from the UK when it was about to be put in place, I am suspicious the counterfactual means it may have had potential....the road not taken...

Instead, we got Labour. And Keir Starmer remember was going to smash the gangs and reduce illegal immigration significantly. So that's going really well.

It might happen at some point but not with Labour.

Experience and competence is what Reform currently lack.

Experience and competence are not optional when running a government.
Also, the previous post you quoted said Reform had 'answers'. What are those fabled 'answers'?
I distrust Farage because when he pushed for Leave he argued that he knew the EU from the inside, and indeed, he must have known how immigration worked and about the agreements we had in place. He must have known how destructive leaving would be - not just economically, but for his pet topic: immigration control. Yet, he pushed for leave on the basis of 'taking back control of our borders' knowing full well that Brexit would make things much more difficult to police. Tell me, is that a trust-worthy stance? Or rather an opportunistic move of the worst kind?

@Quirkswork it's not lefty lawyers stopping the k returning migrants to France. Its the fact France is a sovereign country and you need their permission to do that

We had a returns agreement
We left the EU
The returns agreement ended
Irregular migration increased

I own a house
I paint the walls red
Now my walls are red

@Quirkswork it's not lefty lawyers stopping the k returning migrants to France. Its the fact France is a sovereign country and you need their permission to do that

We had a returns agreement
We left the EU
The returns agreement ended
Irregular migration increased

I own a house
I paint the walls red
Now my walls are red

The solution would be for us to actually police our borders if the EU is unable to police theirs. And if someone gets in they are returned without the hordes of lefty lawyers getting hold of them and suggesting they pretend to be Christian in order to avoid "persecution" by Muslims in their own country.

So leave whatever supra-national outfit is stopping that. Or reform it. That was one of the aims of Brexit but unfortunately we don't ever get what we vote for because the governments that we vote for won't do what the electorate vote for.

Can you explain your thoughts process about how becoming highly educated means you are less likely to have common sense, or that not being very well educated means you are likely to have more common sense?

@Quirkswork it's not lefty lawyers stopping the k returning migrants to France. Its the fact France is a sovereign country and you need their permission to do that

We had a returns agreement
We left the EU
The returns agreement ended
Irregular migration increased

I own a house
I paint the walls red
Now my walls are red

30000.more?

No that was just the camp cleared out. Figures for arrival are different. The point was people just used lorries in high numbers pre boats.

Your argument seems to be shifting to lorries being better as detection was put in place. That seems a bit upside down as it was those restrictions that meant people turned to boats next.

If nothing had been put in place those methods would likely have remained.

The DA needed permission. Refusals increased. The criteria to return was high. Hence only a few hundred using it and more coming to UK than out.

We should and do police our UK borders. Once people reach the UK borders though, the police policing them can arrest the arrivals but can't send them back to France without Frances permission. Policing our borders doesn't change the headline numbers "30,000 arrivals.this year" which is upsetting people. Usually migrants just turn themselves in because they have no incentive not to now anyway.
The solution previously was to establish a.sort of UK border in France and police that (2003). That worked quite well. Until it ended as a result of Brexit. But short of invading France we need their agreement to set up UK borders in their country.