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.

I happened upon news of Tunisians ,mainly men, crossing to Italy . This time last year there were 8,000 - this year 35,000 - they don’t seem to try to return them.

It generally seems that those who shout the loudest in support of accommodating those coming over on boats are those least likely to be affected by large influxes of young men coming from non-war situations.
Looking at you Gary Lineker.

Do you have personal experience of climate change or war? If not; why do you care about them? (If you do)

France and Germany may have larger populations than us but their countries in land size are larger than the UK, but in the last 30 years percentage wise our population has increased more.

I don't know what the answer is but it needs the co-operation of all European countries.

Yes I have, I won't say what line of work I'm in but it's something that has very much been creating real and dangerous issues in the community I work within. Also not in my direct team there have been an increase in certain assaults, not a huge surprise when some people with very different values when it comes to women have no access to any sort of support to adapt to their new home. This isn't that uncommon in places across the country like where I am.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you aren't in an area like this?

YANBU I'm more bothered by lack of NHS dentists and Tory stealth privatisation of NHS. And the SEND crisis.

Of course it answers the question. You clearly don’t live anywhere near Dover/Folkestone etc etc.

I didn't actually say it was in my top 5 anyway, you're presumably assuming because I can empathise with others and understand the bigger picture.

Surely a. Increasing population will affect this

Immigration and Europe were noone's priority until it was manufactured as a priority sometime after 2010.

The small boats are a recent creation of the current Government. They simply didn't exist/occur in any numbers until first all legal routes for immigration to the UK were stopped, and then the Brexit vote at which point it became almost entirely a UK problem and the UK quickly demonstrated that it was powerless to do anything about it. There is no solution other than cooperation with EU neighbours alongside a managed migration/asylum pathway. But having sold a dodgy deal the politicians realise they can't sell that to the chunk of the electorate they've wound up with false promises.

Managed immigration/asylum would mean a combination of skills based immigration and need based asylum. Alongside an expanded foreign aid budget to stabilise the parts of the world that people are fleeing from, upskilling the asylum seekers to be able to participate in their home society when they're able to return, and programs to enable that return when the time is right. This is what real soft power and global statesmanship would look like if the UK wants to play a role on the world stage as big as it's ego thinks it does already.

Well, yes, we all have personal experience of climate change, don't we? The heatwave last summer, for example.

But given the choice and magnitude of issues facing the country, I'm intrigued as to how stopping the boats has made the top 5.

How about the government restore the necessary department to the capability it inherited and that used to deal with far greater numbers?

They spent years gutting everything and then look confused when everything stops working. Then they blame some poor fuckers in boats. And apparently totally non racist people say YES! and gather round hotels shouting apparently totally non racist bile.

Completely agree with you OP yet I see people on social media who think the root of all our problems in the UK is people coming over in dinghies. They're completely brainwashed by the right wing media and the government are happily playing along with it.

Right, so even with your experience, which seems pretty close to the action, it's not in your top 5.

This must be the reason those in Dover voted Labour in the council elections last week...

I’m rather shocked at how many actually see stopping the boats as a priority…

YANBU and I was saying the same thing this morning. Priorities, I think, are the cost of living crisis, the care crisis, the state of the NHS, schools.

Brexit wouldn’t have happened if T Blair hadn’t opened the doors to 300,000 Eastern Europeans in ?2003, an annual number which certainly continued for years, T May promised to reduce that to 250,000 when home sec and failed.

I think getting a third country agreement back in place with the EU post brexit, which will never happen and won't be their plan, would be pretty good tbh.

Because people have different priorities. It isn’t one of mine. But I’m not ‘shocked’ that other people do. It’s a very mumsnet thing, this middle class bafflement that other people think differently to them, or care about other things. Posters have given you reasons why.

There are a number of issues here, but just because people may attach importance to dealing the issue doesn't mean they also think it's the root of all the nation's problems.

We face a lot of issues, the humanitarian cost of this one is significant. Even thinking it's in the top five doesn't automatically imply that I think Rishi has the solution, just that it's important. It also doesn't mean I don't care about the NHS or that I blame immigration for anything/everything.

This government very much created this issue, and it is a serious issue.

SallyWD - I certainly don't think it's the root of all our problems but it does need to be stopped or are you happy for traffickers to do this and for lives to be risked. In my view anyone who willingly puts a child into a small overcrowded boat that is likely to sink should be charged with attempted murder. They don't need to do this.

I haven't said either way, nice to see you not actually coming back with an interesting or considered response about the rest of my post. You clearly just think you're right so not sure why you've bothered seeking opinions under the faux cloak of I want people to explain it to me

I live in the SE and 'boats' are only a concern to me because the government needs to offer safe, legal routes to claim asylum instead.

Why? You don't think it's an important issue?