to think that the Calais migrants are economic migrants and should not be given asylum?

[cabbagesouppirate]

All of the Calais migrants are young men. If they were true asylum seekers seeking safety from persecution they could have claimed asylum in a number of safe countries Western countries already, including France which is hardly a dangerous place. Instead they camp out in Calais, causing a nuisance, a mess, costing the UK and France a lot of money, making the lives of lorry drivers and tourists hell and the situation is becoming increasingly dangerous. I sincerely hope these people are not given asylum in the UK and any that have managed to reach the UK should be fast tracked out of the country and given economic assistance whilst they are here.

really, and you really think that you casting your little vote affects subsequent government policy?
Like I said, deluded.

Yes, it's called democracy.

Little vote is very rude thing say.

oh ffs Ottilia, I did not say anything narsty did I?
As soon as you disagree or get even slightly acerbic on here you get this swarm of middle class mums telling you how 'rude' you are.

Does ANYONE have any practical solutions to this? Genuine, not goady, question? I'm talking real world, achievable solutions as opposed to student idealism. Preferably stuff that helps in the short term?

Because if not then I can see us ending up with an Australian 'naval blockade' style solution

jorah I've asked and so have others.

No answers

Lots of spite and bile at us for asking but no answers

I think it would be a good idea if everyone ignored Coffee. She/he is obviously just here to make sarcastic comments without contributing to the discussion at all.

Go away Coffee and bother someone in real life!

There are solutions on this thread.

Assuming much again coffee?

Doe I can't see your original question - but was this the kind of thing you were thinking of?

the EU stats

These are the figures for 2014 - the number of asylum seekers in the EU and EFTA states.

Germany 202,645
Sweden 81,180
Italy 64,625
France 64,310
Hungary, 42,775
UK 31,745

I don't think there are quick fixes. I think there are long-term solutions but raising the aid budget or ceding some of our trade advantages arent often considered politically palatable.

" She/he is obviously just here to make sarcastic comments without contributing to the discussion at all."

yes I have, if you could be bothered to read through it.
Stop trying to get some group bullying thing going. It is a very sad tactic.

Actually having read through again no one gave me a straight answer to my request for a meaningful figures that match us up to France Germany Italy and the Netherlands. Comparing us to eastern Europe when most of the people entering the UK are from eastern Europe is daft.

Any use?

Thanks shun Yes but in connection to land mass, GDP, population size etc

Ooh lots of stats...thanks!

Is it asylum seekers are immigrants you want figures for?

or immigrants

IMO the French are letting them pass through as they don't want them. and the UK is footing the bill.

Spending millions erecting more flimsy fences...FFS. fences are broken every day.

One thing is to be desperate, another thing is to be violent. covered faces and knives etc. Just what this country needs, more violent people.

Those who say they have families here already, how did they get in then?
and if they themselves get through then they send for their (usually) large families, more drain on the economy.

Lorry drivers losing pay and work, food becoming contaminated, these people dont care about that.

And as usual the PM pussyfooting as always. cos hes so bloody PC.

He should say NO benefits, NO housing, NO jobs, till HE sorts the mess of the lack of housing/jobs/economy (where the hell are they getting all these millions from anyway?) already here.

Both would be great if you know where I can get them, thanks. If nothing else it will make an interesting read!

as for answers - Germany is keen to get asylum seekers into work as quickly as possible. Not hard to see the myriad of reasons why! Rather than seeing the economy as a finite resource (this attitude perplexes me I must admit), they have noticed the more people working and creating, the richer a country gets.

Where Bill?

I've seen 'improve the global economic situation / stop being greedy / reduce our share of the pie' - all of which have merit but are NOT short term.

Short term we seem to have a choice:
a) keep 'em all out - simple, inhumane, expensive to police
b) accept a certain number - how do we decide who 'passes' the entry test? How do we stop attracting more people here? What's our limit? Where will we place them? Who will fund them?
c) accept everyone from everywhere - warm fuzzies all round, until our standard of life deteriorates. Ironically at this point we are less attractive to economic migrants and more likely to become economic migrants.

B seems the obvious solution but it raises genuine questions and issues.

Immigration & GDP

A is the best solution right now or border control should step up or move the camp further away. The UN should build more refugee centres in the immigrants home countries.

well Germany doesn't have 6 times the UK population! Nor is it 6 times the size... it does have the continuing issue of trying to bring the East into step with the West. But the political discourse is completely different.

Oh and FFS
My vote is not little
Your vote is not little.

To say this is to insult the very foundation of democracy.
And democracy is why asylum seekers are coming here.

What a ignorant thing to say

Some people are not on here to have a rational discussion but just to put people down and try and belittle every comment that doesn't agree with their view. Self importance and rudeness are not conducive to sensible discussion.

I suspect we have the same Google, Doe, so I'll leave land masses to you if that's ok - though as PP pointed out when talking about Austria (hardly Eastern Europe), it's important to consider useable area.

I've got the other stats easily accessible so happy to provide:

France's GDP to debt ratio is higher than ours by around 10%, Germany's roughly 10% lower, depending on the figures you use. The Netherlands is a little lower than Germany. Why those countries, out of interest?

In terms of nominal GDP per capita, there's hardly a fag paper between Germany, the UK and France - $47k, $45k, $44k. Netherlands is higher.