AIBU to think the reason why many Asylum seekers come to UK is...

[SmallBoats]

a direct result of our imperialist past? People come to the UK in many instances because they are English speakers. English is widely spoken due to the massive British empire which used to exist. The British empire milked its territories, greatly increased its wealth despite causing massive human suffering in the process. The direct result of this is that English became a widely spoken language worldwide. It therefore isn't surprising many people seeking refuge from war torn countries try to get to the UK as they already speak English.

Errr- French, Portuguese and Arabic are also widely spoken for all the same reasons as English depending on the African country you're talking about.. You just hear more about the English because you live in the Anglosphere

ID cards won’t do it.

They don’t stop the movement of people across the Med.

They’ll do about the same here

Most asylum seekers do not come from former parts of UK colonies. Even those that do come from former UK colonies come from countries which have been independent now for 50-60 years. I am supportive of us taking a reasonable number of asylum seekers but the number should be capped. I do not buy into us having responsibility for current woes of everyone worldwide. In the 17th and 18th centuries these countries would have been colonised by other European countries and would not have faired better. Current issues are caused largely by poor indigenous governments.

Way too many virtue signallers in this country. We can't even deport violent convicted rapists without them wetting their knickers over their yuman rites.
Some people desperately need to get a grip

But that's all still a direct result of British imperialism.

you have absolutely lost hold of yourself if you’ve allowed yourself to be tricked into believing the spiel about freebies. on another note i’ve a bridge i’d like to sell you.

Yes shame the OP didn't know this before posting.

Yeah, human rights are so overrated.

what has deporting violent criminals got to do with asylum seekers though? it’s not illegal to seek asylum.

Yes we have a huge black market / modern day slavery problem here unfortunately.

The UK wasn't even in the top 10 last time I looked.

Yes, they’re here, because we were there.

I would love to know how much the NHS pays for interpreting services every year

I've got no doubt they are sold a lie, but there's no getting away from the fact, NHS care is provided free, so are medications, so are interpretation services to asylum seekers, they haven't, like the majority paid in.

Germany has high numbers of migrants / illegal migrants do people use this line for there too?

Plus ID cards. Showing how little they would do

Many still believe that it is like pre 2010 when you worked and even on NMW you could have ok life. As you say it was similar to the "American dream". News travel slow and as an immigrant to UK (just before 2010) I can hand on heart say that I would not be immigrating now because it is absolutely different state of affairs here. But lots of people don't know that and go by stories of quality of life on low salary long gone.

If the government genuinely wanted to stop the boats, they'd never have left the EU and lost the UK its right to return asylum seekers to the first safe EU country they passed through.

It's no coincidence that numbers have more than doubled since 2019 imo. If Brexiteers had bothered to educate themselves about EU immigration rules, they might have found out that "taking back control" of our borders gave us less control, not more.

You mean the rights of the victim?

which soft arsed policies and freebies would those be? do tell....

Being in the EU doesn’t help Italy who are bearing the brunt of Med crossings.

The systems are strained as every country starts to say no. As France did recently to Italy.

Also look at numbers for Med crossings, you are missing the global trends in migration, which is going up outside the U.K. and Brexit.

lost the UK its right to return asylum seekers to the first safe EU country they passed through.

What is this? Do you mean you think France would say yes to all the people who arrive here and seek asylum?

I see the easily led DM crowd are out with their 5 star hotel and unlimited cash lies.

Ironically, the DM style rhetoric which led to brexit and ‘taking back control’ has been a huge boost to the black market work culture that makes this country appealing to people wanting to come illegally.
English people either refused to do the jobs they accused immigrants of stealing or the employers did not want to pay the salaries needed to get people to work.

Thankfully for exploiters there’s no shortage of illegal immigrants who will work for cash in hand pennies.

The U.K. has some of the worst benefits and social housing in Europe and one of the highest costs of living. People are coming here because they have been lied to or are desperate and willing to enter the very welcoming black market economy that keeps this country on its feet.

yep. let's ignore the fact that if we got rid of immigrants today, there would be no NHS tomorrow... or the fact that successive governments have starved the NHS of funding, cut hospital beds, played silly buggers with PFI (costs 700 quid to change a standard light bulb in my trust! as it's written into the contract- a member of staff bought one from b&q and changed it once and got a reprimand). no, let's blame the asylum seekers, of which a very small proportion need expensive medical care as they are mainly young and able bodied

Human rights are universal. Justice is seperate. Would you really like to live somewhere where human rights are selective? Really think about what that looks like.

I think the reasons are:

• language: English is easier to learn and widely spoken
• indeed colonial past has a lot to do with it
• existing communities: people already have relatives in the country who can help them find work.

I disagree that the benefit system is a draw because in reality rates are lower here than in most EU countries.

@LakeTiticaca
''It's because other countries don't give them 5 star hotel accommodation, access to medical and dental care, and cash handouts.''

Stop reading and believing the Daily Mail...benefits are a pittance in this country compared to what people get in the EU and nobody gets '5 star hotel accommodation'. It is really sad when people just believe this nonsense without even informing themselves.

The number of applications we receive in the UK is 4th highest in EU+ area (inc EEA/UK/Switzerland/etc) area, but a really low 4th - less than half of France (who were 2nd). It was 18th when measured per head of population.

"In the year ending September 2021, Germany received the highest number of asylum applicants (127,730) in the EU+, followed by France (96,510). When compared with the EU+ for the same period, the UK received the 4th largest number of applicants (44, 190 – including main applicants and dependents). This equates to 8% of the total asylum applicants across the EU+ and UK combined over that period, or the 18th largest intake when measured per head of population"
Link is external.