The People demand that the Boats are Stopped.

[noblegiraffe]

I keep reading about the Tory government working hard to deliver the people's priorities:

"Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Government are focused on five immediate priorities. We will halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut NHS waiting lists and stop the boats."

Halve inflation (will happen anyway), grow the economy (vague), reduce debt (vague), cut NHS waiting lists (maybe by paying nurses and doctors more?), stop the boats (what?).

Maybe it's just where I live, but I'm not seeing this immediate urgent need to "stop the boats". It's certainly nowhere near my top 5 priorities for the government to be immediately tackling. If it was, I'd probably look at creating legal routes for genuine asylum seekers as a first step rather than shipping them to Rwanda.

Is it in your top 5 urgent government priorities? Are they speaking to the people and I've just completely missed it?

YABU: Stopping the boats is in my top 5 government priorities.
YANBU: I'm more concerned about something else and would bump Stop the Boats down the list.

Again you are not answering the question.

Me too, I don’t live in an area affected by the boats so it isn’t my personal priority. But I have sympathy for those who do; I’m not going to shout they’re ‘right wing’ and ‘racist’ from a safe distance.

What about lonely old people living in poverty? That would be my priority

Its very easy to assume that anyone apposed is bigot or whatever else, but I'm not sure that's the case. If you can't see that then perhaps open your mind.

I'm literally asking the question to find out why.

Not in my top 5 ! But not surprised that 40% think it should be not after the last couple of years !

I look forward to your response to the rest of my post then :)

No it isn't in my top 5

I am in the SE (although not coastal) in a pretty low income area and I don't have much cash.

It's not in my top 100 things I'd like the government to deal with

You really can't imagine why some people in areas where lots of unaccompanied young men have been stuffed into hotels might see it as a concern?
This

You really can't imagine why some people in areas where lots of unaccompanied young men have been stuffed into hotels might see it as a concern?

If the government committed to hearing claims quickly, and either giving refugee status or repatriating those who were unsuccessful people wouldn’t be stuffed into hotels long term. If there were legal routes to claim asylum without needing to arrive in the country, the boats would significantly reduce.

I can understand the concerns but the government seem to want to exacerbate the situation while claiming to be trying to stop the boats. There are other things they could be spending time and money on but for their ideological position.

We got that questionnaire - just before the local elections.

It didn't even get a number (1 being the most important) and there was a box to fill in with "other suggestions" which we both wrote something along the lines of improve funding for education and reduce the paperwork teachers have to do

We should all be very concerned at some level. The implication that only racist bigots are concerned is offensive. Everything else aside these poor people are taking massive risks, as are people such as the RNLI. There has to be a better way, whatever your opinion of the people involved and their motiviations.

The Tories aren't stupid. They wouldn't be talking about it if it wasn't a concern for a significant number of voters. It's also something they can use against Labour, who will have to come out either for or against and upset one sector of their voters either way.

I agree the government should be focusing on creating a fairer and more effective process, but people who can afford to spend a fairly hefty chunk of money to fast track over isn't the way even if they're then cleared out of hotels quickly.

For or against what?
Labour are happy to take action and have already explained what action they would take.

Despite Rishi claiming everyone else should do Maths to 18, he doesn’t seem too sharp on the calculations himself so doesn’t surprise me this made it into the top 5, given 1 can’t even be influenced by the government.

The regions with the highest number of asylum seekers are London (25k) and the North West (18k). The next closest (West Midlands) takes half of the amount London does.

Yet we all keep pandering to the SE and wider east coast, who don’t even take a fair share

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn01403/

If you live in the south you see the direct consequence of "boat people" (for want of a better term) your closer to the unreported disasters etc if your in the MIDDLE you see the rehoming of them (literally five minutes walk away from my house) and can encounter difficulties clash of cultures (and some people who are just frankly criminal although this is rare and not as common as Facebook would have you believe) speaking as one small part of the middle there is very limited support for them here so I can see how a carefully worded yougov survey could conclude this was one of my top five issues

Needed - But they don't have to take those risks, France is a safe country, so is Spain, Germany, Holland, Portugal, etc.... Nobody needs to be coming across the channel in a small boat, it is not a life or death situation, they are not fleeing France.

What legal routes? Perhaps you could tell Suella - she couldn't enumerate any when asked in committee.

People in (usually deprived) areas where there's been an uptick in violence and crime stemming from the tussle in the drugs trade fuelled largely by an influx of young men from Albania might be a bit wary?

Is this something you have personal experience of and that's why it's on your top 5?

Agreed..It’s pretty scanty how gullible some people are

What a good job we have so many superior people to sneer at them.

I am from one of the poorest towns in the South and am not rich. Not in my top 5 and not is it even close. Things are so tough financially in this area but that is caused (in the majority) by deliberate and unintentional mis-management by the government, not by immigration. I am so pissed off people are falling for this bullshit once again. Government know which tune to play. The issue of immigration needs a total overhaul but its not responsible for this country's ills.

Doesn't affect me personally but I should think most people would be concerned that pretty much every day there are desperate people paying people smugglers to put them onto dangerously overcrowded boats that are barely seaworthy and risking their lives in in the English Channel. So many of them have drowned and inevitably it is usually the youngest and most vulnerable who do not survive the journey. So yes I do think efforts should be made to stop this (note I do not say to stop them coming at all).

There’s no doubt they’re hyping it up, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an issue. Where is the south do you live? It’s a pretty big place.