Statement by the Chair of the Conservative Party

[newnamethanks]

"If they don't like barges they should fuck off back to France". 30p Lee Anderson of course, not the BNP. Not the National Front or whatever their current name is. The Chairman of the Conservative Party. Supporters must be so proud. What a statesman. So Churchillian.

At least the conservatives are trying to fix it and what a battle it has been.

The Conservatives have been in government for 13 years. They haven't fixed it. It has worsened in terms of numbers coming, numbers being processed, numbers being deported, numbers being housed. Every election they promise to "fix immigration".🙄 After they're elected, it gets worse!

Can you see what it is yet?

I bet these refugees in Dublin would have preferred to sleep on a barge;

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/23/refugees-huddle-together-in-dublin-camp-as-local-tensions-rise

This was Stephen Kinnock's response to the illegal migration bill

https://www.stephenkinnock.co.uk/labours-response-to-the-tories-illegal-migration-bill/

We can condemn both.

Are the tents still there?

We've already paid £140million to Rwanda. We haven't sent anyone yet. Apart from Braverman.

Wonder how much she has earned from this deal?🤔

Also, even if SK somehow did by some miracle have a solution to the issue right now that would please everyone, why on earth would he share it and run the risk of the Tories stealing his idea.

Exactly. And then they'd screw it up.

The Conservatives think that mass migration is economically beneficial and Labour think they have some God given moral duty to let all the migrants in.

What is going to be a problem is all the calls of manufactured, reminiscent of 1930's is still going to be a problem when Labour win the next election, just as the Tories have become complacent in power, so has a lot of the vocal online left being in opposition.

Tories beat the dead horse of 'last labour government' and flogging the 'no money' joke and sowing the seeds for just the same with the current government leaving us in the shit (which they have) it is reminiscent of the vocal left being proud purveyors of Keynesian economics the day after the tories won despite brown saying they would implement austerity and it being an EU directive, and missing the key factor in Keynesian economics... (many examples on MN)

This situation is not going to go away, and there is going to be a lot of memory holes of calling someone an -ist for opposing the simple solution.

This situation is not going to go away, and there is going to be a lot of memory holes of calling someone an -ist for opposing the simple solution

And the simple solution is what, exactly?

...Labour think they have some God given moral duty to let all the migrants in.

Is that what they've said @Justanotherlurker?

Labour think they have some God given moral duty to let all the migrants in.

When exactly did they say that?

Tell you what, I'll save you the trouble of looking. They didn't.

That the Tories have failed to control the borders is the issue. They've failed on immigration. They've failed on the economy. They've failed on housing. They've failed on the NHS. They've failed on Education. They've failed on women's and children's rights. They've failed on law and order.

Living in a Tory echo chamber and blaming everyone else isn't going to change that.

Yes, absolutely this. Just who has been in government since 2010?

DuncinToffee
This was Stephen Kinnock's response to the illegal migration bill

when the last Labour Government left office in 2010, fewer than 10,000 people were waiting for a decision for a claim for asylum.

This claim is a bit of a con though isn't it.

So, it turns out that, in 2006, Labour's Home Secretary revealed that the Home Office had discovered 450,000 outstanding asylum cases (hidden in a warehouse somewhere) that they didn't know they had - most dating back to the early 2000s;

Feb 2010
Ministers decided in 2006 to "set aside" 450,000 outstanding legacy asylum cases so that a fresh start could be made on new applications...

this special five-year backlog ­clearance exercise is also not making as much progress as hoped...

while considerable progress has been made in resolving 235,000 of the legacy cases they are unlikely to clear up the rest by the target date of summer 2011...

despite ministers changing the rules to allow anyone to stay who has already been here six to eight years rather than the publicly advertised 10 to 12 years.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/feb/26/immigration

So, over 200,000 'legacy asylum cases' were still outstanding when Labour left office.

Why does the only alternative have to be a fire-trap barge?

Surely it's more relevant that Braverman and Sunak don't have an answer to the problem?

It isn't better, you know. How many UK taxpayers are having to live most of the day in accommodation meant for half the number of people, where they have no privacy because they have to share a small cabin with strangers, where they have to sign out whenever they go out, and which the Fire Brigade has condemned as unsafe?

Why should we stop refugees from landing? It's perfectly legal, and we do have international treaty obligations towards them, after all.

But you (and others, both on this thread and elsewhere) don't need to worry that 'in the UK tax payers pay money they don't have to house [asylum seekers] in hotels etc.'

The money just comes out of the foreign aid budget.

Obviously, UK taxpayers pay - but if this money wasn't being spent on the hotels, it would be spent on foreign aid instead. In other words, it comes out of general taxation that has already been budgeted for, so there are no extra taxes involved.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/asylum-hotels-migrants-aid-spending-b2309613.html

I imagine that the cost of housing people in barges will also come out of the foreign aid budget. And no doubt the cost of the Rwanda scheme too.

2010 backlog of 30,000 cases

2023 backlog of 160,000

https://news.sky.com/story/uks-asylum-backlog-tops-160-000-for-first-time-since-current-records-began-12817733

Good questiion, maybe @Clavinova can answer aa she thinks the barge is preferable

The Tory Party have become the BNP. Its been allowed to happen slowly so we can all pretend we are still some amazing beacon of tolerance. But the UK is one of the most right wing countries in Europe now. I am ashamed of what we have become.

But Jeremy Corbyn.

I think perhaps the focus on Labour is an acknowledgement that they will make up the next government and that Sunak and Braverman are irrelevant since they are achieving nothing in office.

One interesting point here is if the government decides that these people are automatically not asylum seekers because they arrived on a boat not a private jet then they won't be able to spend the over seas aid budget on housing them, but will have to find the money from elsewhere.

What has John Prescott got to do with anything? The whataboutery on this thread is mind-boggling.

For all those defending the Tory's immigration record on the back of what 30p Lee said.

You do realise he has actually said in GB news that the Tory's have failed on immigration don't you? He's said they have made a cock up and done a bad job.

The Tories have had nearly a decade and a half to sort things out. Harking back to Labour's actions 17 years ago is pointless and adds nothing to the discussion about the current situation.