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.

@L1ttledrummergirl why don't you visit these towns if you would like to understand the nitty gritty of them?

I don't.

It's a priority because these people are being put in hotels and not moved into housing. There isn't anywhere to move them on to. Whilst some arrive with education and language skills, others arrive with none, no reading or writing. It's a huge, very costly undertaking to get some in a position to live an independent life. It may not happen for years. I say this as a very left wing person. But it is at crisis point. There aren't unlimited hotels and there aren't workers to process claims or SW to help these people. I can't believe people are so unaware of it. The costs are phenomenal.

Which towns should I visit?

BINS FULL OF PASSPORTS 😂😂😂

I presume these threads are created as a means to try and persuade people not to vote Tory.

In this instance, you presumed entirely incorrectly. I started this thread precisely because I wanted to know, given that 'stop the boats' is a top 5 government priority, whether this sentiment was felt by the population at large.

And because of Brexit and all the stuff about people not listening to legitimate complaints, I thought I'd ask.

And there have been some interesting responses....thank you for those.

Those who have recently come on to call people racist - fgs pack it in, and I would extend that to those wittering on about 'bleeding-heart lefties not wanting to deport nonces' too.

You do realise we just spent £250 million on a coronation that most of the country don't care about.

So? PP was talking about resources not money

beguilingeyes
You have no problem with middle class immigration? Dear lord.
But who's going to clean the middle class houses and nanny the middle class children?

Oh well, bad luck - I'm a self-confessed middle class snob, not a racist.
My parents had a cleaner throughout my teenage years - I found it really annoying that she would turn up at 9am during the school holidays, so no sympathy from me on that one!!

Heaven forbid the working classes should take up any space

Gary Lineker's refugees were a) a qualified lawyer who spoke excellent English and b) a young man now attending university with ambitions to become a rocket scientist. They sound terribly middle class to me.

I've got a great idea. Why doesn't everyone who agrees with the UK accepting all boat people open up their homes to one or more for 6 months? Everyone has a great reason why they couldn't do it, but it's worked for those willing to give up their privacy, time and patience for those who signed up for the Ukrainian scheme. Then, at the end of 6 months, try and find them places to live.
Make an orderly queue, folks .....

If the government problem with "the boat people" is that there isn't anywhere for them to live, no places in schools, doctors etc, then why did the government "invite" 300,000 people from Hong Kong to come and live here?

If it is ok to bring 300,000 people over from Hong Kong, then that shows that setting up legal routes for people is possible and manageable.

If it isn't manageable to bring over 300,000 people from Hong Kong, why is the government merely focusing on "the boat people"?

I think the middle classes are tone deaf to problems facing the poorer. We are lucky we won't be needing to use council accommodation , we can move to other areas. Pay for private healthcare and schooling. The poorer people feel they are already fighting over scraps so don't want the extra competition. We don't have enough land to house everyone in the world who's in poverty or wants a better life. It's just not possible.

We are lucky we were born here but if you want to maintain that , there can't be unlimited numbers of unskilled people allowed. I think skilled asylum seekers should get priority over barely literate people. People are fearing for their lives but don't apply in safe France? It's asylum shopping.

We should up the oversees aid budget it has to be cheaper than housing lots of people.

People from Hong Kong are normally fairly wealthy and highly skilled. They pump money into the economy that's why the government want them.

@hotdiggetydog mocking people for saying how things are doesn't help anyone.

amp.lbc.co.uk/news/dover-residents-40-migrants-aycliffe-estate/

In another incident a coach (!) came to collect the illegal immigrants and they threw their passports in the bin before collection. Some do avoid the authorities. This is happening all the time. If this isn't sorted who knows where those people will end up. Slavery, exploitation generally awaits them. As well as those deliberately partaking in organised crime.

You've been believing what the Mail and the Express tell you, haven't you? I'm enjoying the thought that people believe that they regularly draw attention to themselves by going into people's homes and demanding to use the phone. Something tells me that most people in that situation use this radical new invention known as the mobile phone.

I don't think anyone on here denies that illegal immigrants should be deported, and they are, regularly. The clue's in the word "illegal". If Sunak actually wanted to do something about this, he would finance the police better. But a top five priority? Absolutely not.

Those who have recently come on to call people racist - fgs pack it in, and I would extend that to those wittering on about 'bleeding-heart lefties not wanting to deport nonces' too.

this.

We need to, as a public, be able to have an honest and frank conversation about immigration in all its forms without there being any mud slinging from or toward any quarter. There are concerns from all sides and people need to be able to voice those, even if they are completely debunked and thrown out the water. Silencing people just leads to discontent which typically starts off quietly but rapidly escalates.

Hear everyone, disprove their views politely, move on.

And yet they still need school places and houses and medical care, which is what some are saying is the main problem.

Also, are you saying that there are no wealthy or skilled refugees from other countries?

If it isn't manageable to bring over 300,000 people from Hong Kong, why is the government merely focusing on "the boat people"?

Hong Kong is a former crown dependency and many of its population didn't want to become Chinese citizens. It's a bit different. Plus the people of Hong Kong will have to adhere to our immigration rules around being able to financially support yourself etc.
**

Well, the terms used at the time were considerably worse. There was all too much rejoicing that they thought they were going to get the N**s and P**s out.

Who's agreed to accepting all boat people?

I give up my time as a volunteer, to support asylum seekers. My problem is with the government's attitude to asylum and its refusal to set up legal, regulated and safe ways for those who qualify to apply for it. Their refusal to provide legal means of applying is what LEADS to people getting on boats, ffs. No-one would choose to if they could apply before they come here. Then to add insult to injury they blame asylum seekers for doing something 'illegal' when applying for asylum isn't illegal at all. Their means of arriving here is irregular, not illegal.

I'm don't support open borders. I support sensible and practical ways of fulfilling the UK's obligations to asylum seekers.

I don’t.

I guess we’ll find out in 2024.

@Quia i don't read the mail as I've explained I'm from a coastal town affected by this.

If you don't actually know what's going on how can you comment at all. How about it seeing these things first hand?! This is what the government wants to happen. A minority of towns are sunk down with the weight of issues surrounding this whilst the majority of the U.K. get to pretend it isn't happening and then shout racist or daily mail reader at their convenience.

Wealthy people are more likely to use private schooling , private education and pay more taxes.

I just said I think the highly skilled asylum seekers should be processed quickly. Are you saying all refugees are budding doctors and scientists ?

It depends how you look at it.

The journeys here by boat are perilous and putting people's lives at risk.

Why would you leave a safe country (France) to risk your life getting to another safe country by boat!??! Well they do it because no one is stopping the vile people organising these trips and making huge amounts of money from it.

Asylum seekers are supposed to be "shared out" between safe countries and brought safely to the UK, not in a boat where their life is at risk. We take about a quarter of the refugees compared to France, so we should be taking far more.

By stopping the boats we can then focus on a SAFE system to allow people to seek asylum here.

There are plenty of children recently arrived from Hong Kong taking up state school spaces.

It seems it is possible to set up new legal routes to come here from undesirable countries without opening up a complete free-for-all for a billion people, as a previous poster was worrying.