Sorry I have not read through the thread. I feel compassion for these desperate people. To those asking why do they come to the U.K., it needs to be remembered France has four times as many asylum seekers as the UK, and Germany even more. The U.K. take in 1% of global refugees.
A report by the Refugee Council released on Monday using Home Office data and requests under freedom of information laws has concluded that 61% of migrants who travel by boat are likely to be allowed to stay after claiming asylum. Data also suggests half of those who appeal after losing at the initial decision stage approx win the right to asylum.
According to the report, 98% of those coming across on small boats apply for asylum. This is in contradiction to Pritti Patel who told the House of Lords last month: “All the data and evidence has shown this – that in the last 12 months alone, 70% of the individuals who have come to our country illegally via small boats are single men, who are effectively economic migrants. They are not genuine asylum seekers.”
More crossings are by small boat now and not lorry as security at the Port of Calais in France - where UK border controls are - has been tightened, CoVid has also played a role.
Charities say that asylum seekers in northern France hoping to reach the UK to claim asylum should be able to register their claim with UK officials and then be placed on ferries to be brought to the UK while their claim is processed. If such a scheme was adopted it would achieve what the government has repeatedly promised to do: smash the the business model of the people smugglers.
The U.K. should also allow more refugees to come via resettlement schemes, refugee resettlement is only offered to a very small number of people fleeing conflict. Despite the promise of more safe routes, the number of people resettled under the government’s UK resettlement scheme was 1,171 in the 12 months to September 2021, down by about 45% year on year. Operation Pitting airlifted 15,000 people out of Afghanistan this year and the UK government resettled around 5,000 Syrians a year following the Syrian conflict. Refugee charities are calling for these schemes to be expanded.
Finally, efforts to end global conflicts should continue to be pursued. Apparently the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID) did a great deal of work aimed at this before it was axed as a standalone department and merged with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2020. DfID worked to strengthen the infrastructures of fragile countries in the hope of increasing stability there.