"Most refugees are English speakers, are not unskilled and would be net contributors."
My experience is that they do not speak good enough English, are unskilled and will NOT be net contributors when you take into account their ability to then apply to bring over a bride, elderly parents, go to university, etc etc. Basically the costs of absorbing the thousands of irregular migrants are eye watering.
This country does not have enough money to pay for its own poor, without importing them from the rest of the world. Or, let's make a choice and say that we will prioritise them over, say, the NHS, pensioners, education, the military, etc.
And as for the fanciful idea that we should have safe routes in, this policy has not been pursued due to research showing how high demand would be and the administrative costs of dealing with the applications.
I am sure the 'tax the rich' brigade advocate 70% income tax to bridge the gap: unfortunately as Labour discovered in the 1970s, that leads to a flight abroad of the highly mobile top rate tax payers who say "fuck this, for a game of soldiers."