So what can in practical terms fully halt illegal immigration?

UK only produces a quarter of the food required for all humans on its islands.
Why does anyone think that allowing more people in, can/will possibly work?
We’re already building ‘homes’ on huge areas of productive farmland, so somehow an infinite source of food is going to magically deliver out of nowhere? We’ve defo “paved over paradise”.

Does anyone in in govt. ever possess even an iota of forethought, over & above the obvious, the sun always rises? 🤨 currently.

What I find frightening should Reform ever be able to unduly influence parliament is that the immigration processes they are proposing currently will drastically effect many people who have come here legitimately. One thing is changing the wait to apply for UK citizenship from 5 years on a indefinite leave to remain to 10 years or more. All these things come with a high price tag for people who move to the UK for work/family. Make it too expensive and the UK will lose a huge number of skilled workers - teachers, business people, NHS staff.

So every single person living here who can’t speak English is unemployed and living off the state?

Sure, sure. So you want to import those "tensions" here in big enough numbers that we have similar problems? Like Jewish primary schools needing security guards, for example?

Nothing can fully halt illegal immigration and anyone who claims they can do that is a liar or a fool.

The illegal migration act 2023 with some amendments would be a start. Perhaps instead of crossing dangerously on boats, refugees and asylum seekers can present themselves to a British embassy in a safe country and request asylum. There are reasons some people may want to get to the UK specifically. They already know the language, for example.

I am very much against any system that says you can request asylum in theory but if you got here by "irregular routes' then you are not eligible.

There has to be an accessible and publicised way for people to request asylum. Then people who don't follow that can be dealt with according to the act and you know that you haven't turned away desperate people.

And the vast majority of refugees dont come to the UK. People act like everyone is trying to come here but thats simply not true. It's something like 1% of forcibly displaced people globally last i read.

A condition of applying should be taking a course on British culture. The important things, not who was king in 1503 or what's black pudding made of. Actual education on laws and societal expectations with consequences for failing to follow them clearly set out.

Tbh the whole bloody country could probably use that course!

Who is going to pay for all those bureaucrats to do the checking up? And do you think there would be a huge increase in the number of employers taking on volunteers rather than paying a living wage to employees?

People arriving in small boats are a tiny percentage of illegal migrants. The vast majority are those who outstay their visas.

If they cracked down on the people who employed illegal migrants it would massively reduce the pull factor. But obviously in the reform narrative it can’t be the poor downtrodden, hard working British citizens who are causing the problem, can it?

By next year, net migration is set to fall below zero.
If Reform gain power they’ll have to beg people to come to prop the economy up.

Religious tensions says that's a no. It can be more dangerous.

People believe what they want to believe about the ECHR and much of it is misreported

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-09-04-misrepresentations-around-human-rights-and-immigration-fuelling-calls-quit-echr

I used to work with overseas students here on student visas and the number who would abscond was not insignificant. The authorities rarely bothered to try to locate them. Reform don't seem to care too much about that group. Not as glamorous as boats I guess.

But surely countries closest will be much more culturally similar, which makes it much easier for people to assimilate and build a life there. And to support or rescue the women they have left behind in such extremely dangerous environments.

Stop criminalising migration. You're not going to stop it, people will always try to move, they always have and always will. The focus should be in creating a more humane system to process migrants.

Should only the countries immediately neighbouring danger zones deal with the full cost and impact of each wave of asylum seeks and the costs of verifying their claims? Thatvwould be ridiculous. The UK has no more than its fair share of the global population of refugees if divided among safe countries in proportion to population. Given that a properly equitable distribution would naturally give a slightly higher proportion to richer nations we are really doing a bit less than our fair share. If international agreements for refugees qere changed to force all asylum seekers to make their claim in the first safe country that would have to come with a distribution system to relocate fair proportions of asylum seekers to other countries that do not border damger zones, which would be at the cost of the states involved instead of the personal costs to the asylum seekers, plus an enormous extra layer of bureaucracy to manage and monitor it, it would be far more expensive and we would have more asylum seekers billetted here officially and legally than we do with the current setup.

The best way to tackle illegal migration is to make legal migration easier, claiming asylum easier, and work harder to enforce employee rights for all so that there's no profit to be made shipping in migrant workers to evade costs. Reform are trying to reduce employee rights to make it easier for exoloitative employers so I expect their policies will actually increase the problems.

And who pay into the system!

Most claims are accepted, and the process is very slow. Some deportations are prevented by lawyers. The legal immigrants who outstay their visas are a problem, but those who arrive illegally and purport to be asylum seekers need stopping before they leave France. It’s too late by the time they get here.

And are those expats a drain on the economy and a social threat ? Or are you throwing out absurd attempts at parallels out of desperation?

Biometric ID, not leaving the ECHR but updating it (three are mechanisms to do this, and it has been done before I believe) to tighten up against case law that has probably swung too far in favour in things like ‘right to family life’ which gives some of the edge case results that get a lot of publicity and stoke anger.

Speed up asylum applications and clear the backlog. Money will have to be thrown at that but offer a good deal for a company to do it quickly and efficiently.

Clamp down on firms employing loads of dodgy workers without documents. Deliveroo, I'm looking at you.

Unlike all those British expats living in Dubai who are fully integrated in the local language and culture. 🤔

I've thought the same.

It is the small boats that need to be stopped. People pay thousands to get a place on one of those rubber boats. The people we want to stop are economic migrants.

We could issue a visa that costs say, £10000 that allows you entry to the UK and to look for work say for 2 years. Two year visa not looking for work.

BUT you have to provide finger prints and DNA and a valid passport from your home contry.

Restrictions can be added about where you are allowed to live / work.

As well as the DNA / fingerprints you re not allowed to use any public funds.

You will have to have a monthly interview, face to face or via zoom with a case worker. If you do not find work or undertake some voluntry work then your visa can be cancelled.

We already allow a lot of younger people from commonwealth countries to enter the UK.

I've not thought out the details but something could be worked out.

That is the problem. We perhaps should only pay them based on results, and also curtail their fishing rights if they don’t comply!

Reform are only popular because of illegal immigration, they will only ever make pretend efforts to end it because it's in their interests for it to continue.

Apparently Trump, cut back on the budget for training ICE officers (it was probably Elon Musk with his doge bullshit that suggested it), which used to be a proper two year period (or something, sorry, can’t remember the details) which covered legal aspects too. They suddenly realised they needed more so started employing anyone with a gun licence who were given a 6 week (?) course and sent out on the streets.

Completely agree. Nothing will happen otherwise.

World peace and an end to extreme poverty and exploitation.

Good luck.