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.

@Dodgeitornot No worries. God knows what Rishi meant, not sure he even knows himself!

The state of housing in the U.K. sounds absolutely appalling, people living like that is heartbreaking.

There was a law about making homes fit for human habitation that was voted down by the Tories a few years back, I assume that would have addressed some of these issues?

Tbh housing sounds like a far bigger problem than just the boat people, and should be a higher priority?

The poster I was referring to was talking about people who had arrived on small boats competing with her niece for social housing - aka asylum seekers. And I was calling bullshit on this for the reasons stated.

Most people arriving on small boats are not refugees. There is a long process to gaining refugee status and the rights that go with it. They are asylum seekers, who have v limited rights and no recourse to public funds. Refugee families can apply for social housing, but they are scored just as everyone else.

@Dodgeitornot That's an horrific story and I feel sympathy for you family. However, if you believe that's in any way comparable to the experiences of some asylum seekers in the UK, you don't have a very good understanding of the current process, so I'm not going to argue further with you on this.

I never said I do know and I never said it's comparable to the experience of an asylum seeker. What are you on about. I've actually been very sympathetic throughout this thread and have been called a sodding leftie.
You just said that if the UK is to set up the same system as Germany, than we should be ready to treat those waiting for social housing the same. All I explained is that this is already happening. Multiple times you disagreed with me. I explained at length why I said what I said and now you've completely changed the subject from housing to the general experiences of asylum seekers. I googled the German system and actually those 'barracks' or whatever they are, look exactly like the one my mum was in. Its not a competition to the bottom though. I'm just trying to show you that what you've implied should happen, is happening.

it's a small tip of the ice berg- I have a desk in a co working centre that has a company dealing with visa applications. This is for those who are here via legal routes. It's quite clear inward migration here at the moment is huge - it's wall to wall every day- , mainly southern Asian, Indonesia and Africans. (A few Europeans too but not many) this is families of all ages , rather than single young people . It's clearly open sesame here now- simply because Brexit has caused issues in the number of work age people actually working and these people are now being allowed in to fill the gaps and it's clearly not all brain surgeons. I'm pretty sure this wasn't what many expected when voting that way. So we have now lost our rights to move around easily without jumping through hoops whilst inviting mass migration of family groups who need medical and housing facilities far more than young , fit single Europeans ever did.

The boats issue- Mm , it seems to be gangs of smugglers arranging these for cash- many appear to be rather unsavoury British nationals too - no doubt the kind of idiots flying the flag as well- but hey it's just business. Might help if the legal routes were easier and dont exclude younger single people.

Yes. I am quite shocked housing isn't there.

@Swansandcustard And just to add, even if you're lucky enough to get housed near friends or family, you're not allowed to stay the night there. They had to sign in and out of the building, including my disabled sister. If they did not sign in or out, the council would be notified and this was classed as them letting the council know they are suitably housed. Maybe I don't know much about the plight of asylum seekers in this country, and I hope never to experience what they have. I wish we could give them a better service and process their applications quicker. But it sounds like you don't know much about how social housing waiting lists work too.

I'd love to know the overlap between the voters who fell for those "Turkey is about to join the EU!" Vote Leave posters and the people who are being manipulated by the current three word slogan.

I suspect both "speak to" the same voters.

"Where will these hundreds of thousands of extra people live , we built 150,000 new homes last year but 500k boat people are expected this year . Multiply that by every year we don't tackle this .where will these people live ."

You. Voted. For. The. Government. That. Has. Stopped. Processing. Asylum. Claims. Hence gigantic backlog and all the enormous costs associated with this.

BTW - where does this 500K figure come from? Reuters put a figure of 56K expected to arrive by small boat in 2023.

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-expects-up-56000-immigrants-arrive-small-boats-this-year-2023-04-19/#:~:text=Britain%20expects%20up%20to%2056%2C000%20immigrants%20to%20arrive%20in%20small%20boats%20this%20year,-By%20Michael%20Holden

"It's quite clear inward migration here at the moment is huge - it's wall to wall every day- , mainly southern Asian, Indonesia and Africans. (A few Europeans too but not many) this is families of all ages , rather than single young people . It's clearly open sesame here now-"

... And as you said - this was predicted following BREXIT, that it would be visas for trade deals...

Ah, I see the "500K people are coming by boat!" is actually a reference to the fact that 500K people are expected to immigrate to the UK this year, the vast majority who will have a visa and who won't be applying for asylum. https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-net-migration-rose-504000-year-june-2022-data-2022-11-24/

Family member is riding for a P45 if they keep handing out confidential information about the housing list.

We need to cut immigration to a few hundred highly skilled people. There's no need for unskilled labour anymore. We should not be giving any visas for trade deals.

A few hundred?? Do you have any idea of the number of vacancies in our NHS and social care alone??

Just to reassure some of the people here who are having the vapours about the UK experiencing total social collapse caused by 56K 'boat people' claiming asylum here in 2023, you'll be relieved to know that the social policies of the government you no doubt voted for are currently contributing to large numbers of excess deaths - currently running at about 1400 a week, which. more than cancels out the numbers arriving by boat. 😶

All the more reason to have the system advocated on this thread, i.e. an efficient asylym claim processing system with at least some of the process happening before people even start their journey here. That way the problem of too many being concentrated in one place will disappear quite quickly, because false claimants will be deported quickly and genuine claimants will be able to go to live where they want to and where they can find jobs etc.

Farmerama1
The poster I was referring to was talking about people who had arrived on small boats competing with her niece for social housing - aka asylum seekers

At least one poster has suggested that Rishi Sunak's reference to 'small boats' has a wider reference.

Most people arriving on small boats are not refugees

Try telling that to the Refugee Council.

There is a long process to gaining refugee status and the rights that go with it

Looks like 3,378 people (main applicants) arriving on 'small boats' (Jan 2018 - June 2022) were granted asylum or another type of leave;
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-june-2022/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-june-2022

Refugee families can apply for social housing, but they are scored just as everyone else

I'm not disputing that.

There's still 1.3 million unemployed people. Plus the NHS is overstaffed anyway with their ridiculously outdated practices. They should be automating and investing in AI. But they won't.

We cannot keep bringing in immigrants to keep badly run companies and institutions from falling apart. Sooner or later they are going to stand or fall based on how they are run.

"The last 6 suitable properties have been given to people who arrived by boat".

I thought all the people who arrived by boat were young single men? Who are apparently all now being 'given' family homes?

Are these Schrodingers immigrants? Both single, sexually dangerous 'men of fighting age' come to squat in social homes big enough for families, while simultaneously stealing people's jobs and sitting at home all day on benefits?
😂

If the people arriving here aren't refugees/people who qualify for asylum then doesn't that make it even worse that the government takes so long to process them and we pay a Tory donor to house them all that time.

You'd think the government would let them apply from anywhere but here to save taxpayer's money, wouldn't you?

Except...That's how companies like Serco profiteer off a problem.

With the full cooperation of their mates in the Conservative government.

They don't donate to the Tories for nothing you know!

Tell employers in the care, health, hospitality, farming and construction sectors that there's no need for unskilled labour currently - if you want to give them a good laugh

@Florenz

yes yes dear, we have so many extra nurses, doctors and community carers that we are tripping over them 🙄 No shortages whatsoever, nothing to see here…….

"Plus the NHS is overstaffed anyway with their ridiculously outdated practices"

In 2010 public satisfaction rates with the NHS were 70%, and according to healthcare research it was deemed to be the top health service in the world in international comparisons when it came to value for money - it got more healthcare, to more people for less money than any other system of healthcare.

What's happened to it under the Conservatives?

BTW - we have fewer nurses, doctors and hospital beds per head of population than almost any other developed country.

Tell them to a) Pay more to attract people already here and/or b) invest in automation/AI. All those sectors existed long before mass immigration, they just got used to having a ready pool of immigrants they could underpay and exploit instead of paying wages and providing conditions that British people will accept.