How bothered are you about Small Boats?

[Spinet]

I think the idea that people think Small Boats with illegal immigrants on them is a really pressing issue is made up by politicians to have something to campaign on. Am I right? Is this a pressing issue as far as you're concerned?

I'm not really talking about immigration/ asylum seekers in general, just the small boats everyone keeps mentioning. If you're worried about people dying in the channel I get that, but do you think people finding their way here illegally is a major issue for our country at the moment?

I think it's clear I don't but I will accept I'm wrong about this being a made up issue if the majority disagree with me.

If you want to vote YABU= this is one of my top ten concerns. YANBU = I don't think it's a top ten issue for the country.

Rather begs the question why the Prime Minister is hell bent on increasing climate change then doesn't it. It rather contradicts his "Stop the Boats" campaign.

You've been reading the Mail, haven't you? Yes, immigration detention facilities have gyms or fitness rooms and/or outdoor exercise spaces, but they are very basic, generally have limited access, and are there basically because it's recognised that if people who have committed no offence are effectively caged indoors all the time it's inhumane and dangerous. It really is not a luxury. Which "luxury" would you rather have, limited access to a shabby gym or the freedom to go out and about and walk and run wherever you want?

Some detention centres are overcrowded, frankly nasty and access to health facilities is variable. People generally live in dormitories and their lives are very regimented. There are far too many documented incidents of detainees being denied crucial health care, particularly with regard to mental health. These facts are known abroad, but for asylum seekers at risk of death they don't have much choice.

The UK just took over a million we are doing just fine thanks ☺️

Not at all. It is crocodile tears to say we want to break the people smugglers' hold on the people who want to come to Britain.

Why don't Sunak and Braverman explain that as a result of Brexit we will have to agree to high levels of immigration, and not exclusively in the desired categories of surgeons and senior IT personnel from the countries like India and China or wherever we need to do trade deals with?

That's fine. I'd probably be in more need of someone to wipe my bum in my old age than a brain surgeon. But why not just be honest?

The only reason for arriving by boat and throwing away your passport is if you know for certain you don't qualify as an immigrant.

If you can show you're from a country at war that hugely increases your chances of staying and if you have relatives here that helps a lot too.

But people who think British people are gullible like to say that the boat people qualify on both counts.

People also like to say that refugees have a right to enter the country illegally and that's also wrong. The 1951 convention supports illegal entry if you are fleeing immediate danger. Not danger you were in 5 countries back.

Getting in that boat is an admission of guilt and a statement that you don't care about British law. Which doesn't bode well for when one of these nice young men wants a new phone, TV or female company.

There are homeless British people and vast numbers living in overcrowded or unsuitable homes. They are told that nothing can be done, but until that is solved there should not be any immigration at all.

Except for one special case.

Some people I know will find it unacceptable that a new immigrant might be given temporary accommodation when they should have a proper home and that this matters more than the plight of British people.

I'm ok with deporting that person and their family to find room for just the one incoming family.

@Webmeister999 you are aware I am sure that there are more than enough empty homes in the UK to house all those who were born in Britain and find themselves without a home to live in, plus all of those who have claimed asylum in the UK in the last 10 years and will in the next 10 years?

I think you might be lost. The Daily Mail comment section is that way ->

@FreshStart12345 They might have a good work ethic but that doesn't mean they are not economic migrants and not the assylum seekers they are claiming to be.

So you just want migrants here to ‘wipe your bum’??

Is this for real - progressive labour thinking?

It’s racist no?

The U.K. is doing pretty well on climate stuff, compared to other countries

It still means you were incorrect on numbers

If you think you would have a better life living in a dormitory separated from other members of your family in an overcrowded dirty detention centre and no freedom, I suggest you give it a try and then come back and tell us how it goes.

Our standards really cannot be "Well, maybe it's better than living on the streets." The existence of asylum seekers does not prevent us from caring properly for "our own". You need to look at chronic underfunding by the government of social care and the NHS for that - and if you think that money saved by not providing for asylum seekers would change that, you would be deluded.

The only concern I have is for the well-being and safety of the migrants on the boats.

I volunteered in a refugee camp in France years ago and it was unspeakably horrific, no running water, no sanitation, no access to education, little kids kept prisoner in an environment you wouldn't keep a dog in.

I tried to talk about it on MN at the time and got mass-bullied by posters who were determined to censor me and paint me as a liar, because it conflicted with their Daily Mail fantasy that all migrants are 18yr old men pretending to be children who just want to live it up on the public purse.

Mumsnet will never be a place for good faith discussion about stuff like refugees because Mumsnet is very right wing, very Tory, and there's a lot of posters who just don't see anyone who isn't white British as being human beings.

That may be the case @jgw1 but I assume those empty homes also have owners. They aren't just empty unclaimed homes for the taking so I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

When did the UK just take over a million refugees?

As of November 2022 there were 231,597 refugees in the UK. Have the other 3/4million arrived since then, or did they suddenly leave before the UNHCR reported on the numbers?

https://www.unhcr.org/uk/asylum-uk

Conditions in France do not surprise me. We don’t have a Calais camp here though

So if we have established this migrant wave is just the start of a 1.2 billion migrant climate projection - on what basis can we possibly vote for a party that doesn’t believe in limits, controls and security measures are important?

That pot holes and piles take precedence. And building on green belt and reopening the brexit wars.

Rishi Sunak was born in Southampton....

OP has suggested that economic migrants should be treated the same as refugees as they are all human. There is absolutely nothing wrong with economic migration as long as legal channels are used and applicants follow the rules in place.

@LastTrainEast at the risk of repeating myself there are a million empty homes in England alone. That there are people without homes in the UK is a policy decision by the government. A government led by someone who thinks it is acceptable for him to pay a smaller proportion of his income in taxes than teachers and nurses do.

Labour intend to force sale all empty properties whether it’s due to someone being in long term medial care or a genuine empty house. Granny in respite. All will be forcibly sold.

You have chosen to misinterpret what I said there. You can go back and read it if you are actually interested in what I was actually talking about.

"Why don't Sunak and Braverman explain that as a result of Brexit we will have to agree to high levels of immigration"

I'm really quite bored now with Brexit being the cause of everything from the economy (better than many in the EU) to bad breath.

If we were in the EU now they would send us a memo with how many people we would let in this year. It's different for each country and not negotiable. It's an order.

Source please @Lastchancechica

Its a policy decision by the UK government to allow the situation.

Rubbish. You've never defined these eye watering woke policies, despite being repeatedly asked.