To be shocked at the net migration figures currently being discussed

[Feelingathomenow]

Yesterday’s figures discussed by the Tories stated that since 2010 the net migration figures to the UK has equalled the size of the population of Wales. Today we were told the figures to June 2023 showed a net migration figure of nearly 1 million for that year, for the year to June 2024 this had reduced to a mere 3/4 of a million. The numbers coming in of the boats per year alone is equal to a large town. AIBU to think this has to stop. We need to immediately crack down on people allowed into this country- limit it to urgently needed highly skilled jobs and start offshore processing (or similar) of the people who are here illegally (basically like many other countries).

We just can’t cope with those numbers. - no wonder our infrastructure is collapsing, we have a housing crisis etc.

I want to hear from the government how they are going to tackle it. We have heard from the Tories now it is over to Starmer.

Very sensible. But they are not allowed to work until they've been processed. The system completely collapsed under the Tories.

We are out too. We are immigrants who have enough of the masses of uneducated people coming here and the high taxes for the few. I want diversity not all from the same area of the world. We know that is that is not diversity.

Circa 400-500k International students a year which the stats show are leaving again when their courses end

This is such an important point, it needs restating again. These students are clever, wealthy and spend a lot of money in their respective university towns, as well as subsidising UK students. They mostly leave afterwards, and those that don't can be much more easily identified than illegal migrants.

Half of this net migration is students studying in the UK, and the whole sector is nearly collapsing because there are not enough of them!

Talk about crazy messaging.

Does everyone want their own children to pay more for uni? If so, good, because now we have fewer of them, we will have to pay more ourselves.

It's people seeing a drastic cultural and demographic shift in certain areas, that has nothing to do with funding. The lack of integration into UK culture. People understandably don't like that.

This. I used to stick my fingers in my ears and tell people they were racist. Now I listen. So many of the worst-affected areas are in the poor bits of my city, where there are precious few resources and housing. Adding a growing number of young male asylum seekers is making life even more difficult for some people. We have to listen to them when they tell us what they think. Look at what's happened in the US because the Democrats called people names and wouldn't listen. I don't want Reform getting a foothold here, but I can absolutely understand why a growing number of people feel Reform speaks for them. Listen to what poor people are telling you. I have been on the left all my life but I'm increasingly frustrated with the 'progressive' left's writing out of working class opinion.

I don't agree at all. They don't ALL want to work.
The problems of housing loads of working age young men in hotels have been documented as well. I live near one and it's been a absolute nightmare but unless it's your day to day life, there will always be others who refuse to accept it and will just call you a bigot instead.

4 billion is being spent per year supporting asylum seekers. Just because they are seeking asylum does not actually mean they are at risk in their country of origin. Albanians were doing that in great numbers until that was closed down when people realised the number of Albanians truly at risk from vendetta was very low. Now plenty of Vietnamese are coming across in small boats, again Vietnam is poor but it’s very unlikely they are all victims of persecution. We can’t keep on taking in all those from poor, corrupt , cleptocratic states, it’s not sustainable.

where's your evidence that immigrants don't want to work? On the contrary, the vast majority do and create a net financial gain to society whereas the average Brit does not. As for the language, having moved to a country myself with a limited grasp of the language and then learnt it purely through being there, it's the best way for them to learn. Most of the Uber drivers and delivery people I encounter have limited English, but it doesn't affect ther service I receive in the slightest and their langauge skills of course improve over time. Good luck to them.

Yes. Men tend to come (75%) because of the danger to their wives and children. They hope they will be granted refugee status and can then reunite with their families. And frankly, when we see children on these boats, that speaks to a terrible desperation. I wouldn't want to try to exist in Afghanistan.

migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/people-crossing-the-english-channel-in-small-boats/

Well yes that is part of the problem as well. It's ridiculous that someone on minimum wage is worse off than someone claiming benefits. Work should always pay more otherwise where is the incentive. Rents are far too high as

I agree OP, I work with a lot of young men who are awaiting/have just been granted right to remain. The resources are simply not here to look after them & their expectations.
They genuinely do believe after they are given their right to remain, they will be given a council flat and can live happily ever after for free here. Once the young males leave care, after turning 18, they stop going to college and engaging. They have no intention of contributing, they are quite simply here for their own personal gain. I remember when I spoke to a young male who did work, therefore didn't get UC & had to pay rent and council tax out of his wages he immediately quit his job and said it's not fair!
Again, a young male who was working and I thought what a breath of fresh air, the day his wife was finally allowed to come over he quit his job and said he has back issues. They now both live on UC and PIP.

There are enough unskilled British citizens and immigrants already here to fill those positions. I remember trying to find a fruit picking job for the summer whilst at university and it was impossible!

Thank you for this perceptive post

Ate the young men off the boats going to provide care jobs? Intimate care for elderly and disabled. The majority off the boats are young men. The size of a town of young men.

Quite a bit of self hatred in here from ( I assume) fellow brits. Brits don’t want to work, brits are lazy, brits are too fat. So foreigners are the answer.

It is sensible. Processing needs to be faster, so they are either accepted or not. If accepted, they can then work and contribute.

Yes which is why starmer says the tories did it deliberately to many soundbites from tories abd reform easy answers for complicated problems bit folks want easy soundbites

But the trouble is, Afghanistan will never get sorted if all the men keep leaving. They need to sort out their own country. if I was a man living under the Taliban the very last thing I would do is leave my wife and daughters there

@Feelingathomenow - I was merely asserting that the climate crisis and wars are two big factors in global migration, not 'just' migration to the UK. Protectionist attitudes of 'not our problem' won't help ANY country as both of those factors continue to intensify. Fact is, millions of people WON'T be able to 'go home' or get moved on somewhere else with any ease owing to climate change that's, quite literally, swallowing up land under seawater or being rendered impossible to live on owing to catastrophic weather patterns.

I agree

Quick process, where are they from, is it from a safe country, what skills do they have, migration or refugee.

Immediate return of non qualifying

Are you on the left that you say you are? Because I don't actually believe s that people say on this group. because I'm on the left I live in a very poorer area that yeah has quite a bit of immigration in Dewsbury. It's a s hole, but you know why it's not the immigrants really, it's the lack of infrastructure The Tory government promised that we would have money to level up in areas like mine, but they didn't do that. So now they've got people like you blaming the immigrants.It's far too easy to look at that, then not look above and look at what's happened all these years, the decimation of this country is not the immigration fault.It's very easy to blame that

Isn't that a bit like saying the Jews should have stayed in Germany under Nazi rule and 'sorted out their own country'? I think, if you've never lived under an truly oppressive political, religious or military regime, you can't say what YOU would do under the circumstances in an attempt to make a better life elsewhere for you and your family.

We don't have infrastructure because the last 15 years of defunding and poverty in this country destroyed it.

Workers coming in contribute to the country's wealth. They contribute to the Treasury in their taxes - but only if they are given the legal jobs they come here looking for. Keep them locked in a hotel on £30 a week, and yes they cost money. Put them on the building sites, supermarkets, factories, distribution centres they came here to work in and they will immediately net contributors.

They are young and keen and don't actually need much infrastructure. They don't need the NHS as much as the older, preexisting population needs by a long shot. Most of them are men, as you say, so they're not adding pressure to maternity wards.

The birth rate is falling, so we have plenty of room in our schools for those who bring their partners and have families here.

Many are happy with shared housing, because they aren't here for the long term - they want to earn a bunch of money and take it home to buy a house - exactly like my own family members did here in the 1960's, in fact! They're also quite literally often BUILDING housing when they're here, so again - net contributors!

I'm an immigrant and we came here 20 years ago with money from my own country 20 years ago and we bought a house, and are very much net contributors. Is that okay because we're white though?

So can you please specify exactly what part of the infrastructure will collapse because a bunch of ambitious, healthy young men are coming here to take jobs that are readily available to them?

We have poured billions into Afghanistan and lost many lives for no real change. The answer however isn’t for them all to come here.

Exactly i believe this is what happened in Hitler's day. I really do I think it's too easy to blame immigration for the fault of a society that has no housing that doesn't have infrastructure. The conservatives under boris promised forty new hospitals.F hell there is no forty new hospitals

This is so well put, thank you.