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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask what you think about Starmer’s plan to stop the boats?

1000 replies

WhereIsMyJumper · 10/07/2025 22:30

I cannot see how his ‘one in one out’ plan is going to help. I also can’t understand why France is cooperating with us. What’s the incentive?

If you don’t agree with this plan, what would your answer be?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ckg6x4g6gg6t

Starmer says 'one in, one out' migrant deal with France to begin within weeks

He says small boats migrants will be returned to France, in exchange for asylum seekers who have not tried to enter the UK illegally.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/ckg6x4g6gg6t

OP posts:
Thread gallery
18
Goldenpatchwork · 11/07/2025 12:06

Starter’s policy 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
nuff said

Quirkswork · 11/07/2025 12:08

Namitynamename · 11/07/2025 12:05

Yes, but he was literally paid to put forward the interests of UK fishermen. And then didn't. And then told UK fishermen their interests weren't being represented...
that's the exact opposite of doing what he says.

I wouldn't get hung up on it. If that's your main criticism of Farage. Remember he didn't believe in the EU.

Xenia · 11/07/2025 12:09

Thewr eis doubt that in the US, UK and much of Europe the issue of both large amounts of legal and large amounts of illegal immigration plus asylum seekers is an issue. This will get even more of a problem due to climate change.
In the first 30 years of my life in the U Kon the whole we had about zero - one year 10k might come, another year 10k go. Then the 2nd 30 years of my life (last 30 years) much higher lawful and unlawful immigration.

Some people will like that and some not but it is definitely a concern for a lot of USA, UK and EU voters and due to the vast numbers of people coming it is a big issue for plenty of people. If it were 10,000 Kindertransport children in worldwar II people open up their arms to help. If it is 1.3m lawful immigration (900k net) in one year recently that is quite a different matter.

shaqueena25 · 11/07/2025 12:10

BoredZelda · 10/07/2025 23:14

“Whatever else they get”? What they get is 9.50 per week, if they are in “hotels” where meals are provided. That’s it. Those meals are not good quality, often aren’t enough and are mass produced. They are not living it up in 4 star hotels with room service and a spa. I’ve been in these places. One which used to be a 4 star hotel, but had been closed for a few years before they took in asylum seekers. Very little work was done to reopen it. There is damp and mould everywhere. Rooms which previously were lovely double rooms how have 4 single beds in them. They have no access to any of the amenities in the hotel. Frankly, I wouldn’t let my dog sleep in one of these places. Mobile phones are not provided to them by the Government, but there are some refugee charities who provide old refurbished phones to some refugees so they can remain in contact with the agencies who are supporting them and dealing with their applications for asylum.

Where should these “detention camps” be? Is it reasonable for this to be for years because they are way behind in processing applications? The government has statutory duty to provide accommodation. Nobody gets to choose where they live, if they don’t accept what they are offered, they won’t get any financial support.

The reason this is costing billions is A) the companies who have these contracts for food and shelter are largely Tory cronies who are taking the piss and B) the departments processing claims have been woefully under staffed.

£9.50 a week doesn’t pay for their bags full of designer sports gear from JD I see them shopping for … getting their nails done the few women who are here . Please don’t make it sound like they are having a rough time of it cus they definitely aren’t . If they were they wouldn’t want to come here in their thousands . This has to stop !!!

Quirkswork · 11/07/2025 12:10

Russia is also weaponising immigration to destabilise Europe which is working.

EggnogNoggin · 11/07/2025 12:11

MiloMinderbinder925 · 11/07/2025 09:20

What you're saying is that people will vote, herd like, for something new without giving it any thought.

People willfully admitted voting for Brexit with no idea what it meant. Loads of interviews online where people had no idea what it meant and voting regardless.

This one link even indicates that 59% of people couldn't name the Prime Minister on 2015.

People vote for people who say what the want to hear. They don't vote for people who aren't delivering.

So again, it doesn't matter whether Reform can do better - the say the words people want to hear and they haven't had the chance to fuck up immigration yet.

Like it or not, Reform are tapping in to people who don't feel heard or don't usually vote.

gamerchick · 11/07/2025 12:11

lazyarse123 · 10/07/2025 22:47

The only thing to do is make it so unattractive to come. No hotels, mobiles and whatever else they get. Detention camps until they're processed but they don't seem to reject anyone.

I'm not thrilled about 5 million spent on a state visit either.

Like alligator alcatraz in Florida? I think people in the UK would be quite happy to treat people like that I'm starting to think. No medical care, no protection from bugs, no water for toilets or washing. Sound alike right up the street of a lot of people.

Namitynamename · 11/07/2025 12:14

Quirkswork · 11/07/2025 12:08

I wouldn't get hung up on it. If that's your main criticism of Farage. Remember he didn't believe in the EU.

Simon Fein don't believe NI should be in the UK government so don't take their seats. Garage doesn't believe in the EU but did draw a wage and pension.and volunteers for a committee. He effectively took a seat that could have been too aken by another UK MEP who did care about advocating for UK fishermen and never showed up.
But I know, no-one on the pro-Farage side is hung up on the fishing issue. Farage has stopped taking about them too having used them to get what he wanted and then dropped them. So now it's "why are you talking about it"

Namitynamename · 11/07/2025 12:15

I don't know who Simon Fein is. But my phone auto carrot was determined.

BoredZelda · 11/07/2025 12:17

Namitynamename · 11/07/2025 12:15

I don't know who Simon Fein is. But my phone auto carrot was determined.

Simon Fein and Garage have a lot to answer for. 😆

Lavender14 · 11/07/2025 12:18

Cluborange666 · 10/07/2025 22:40

There is no answer, that’s why. Mind you, France and the UK working together is a positive. Legally, anyone coming here as an asylum seeker has the right to remain until their case is heard. Labour can’t stop them, the Tories couldn’t and Reform won’t either, despite their rhetoric.

^ this.

A large part of the issue is that for many people, the living conditions in many of the large eu sea bordering countries are not sustainable or really that safe, plus there may be family or community in the UK they are trying to reach or its been an agreed meeting point should families get seperated and lose contact. There are massive drivers that will make people feel immense pressure to make their own way to the UK as opposed to other countries and I don't think there's any realistic way to do that without criminalising or further endangering very vulnerable people. The best focus is probably trying to invest in making their home countries safer/ more sustainable, speeding up the asylum process to something less hostile and more efficient and targeting the people smugglers who are exploiting people via small boats. None of this is an easy solution and this is a problem we will be dealing with for a very long time. However, we take a very small percentage of the world's asylums seekers/migrants and often they benefit our economy.

There's too much rhetoric around now that is blaming them for societal pressures which have been created over many years by years of austerity and inadequate leadership. They are an easy scapegoat.

Sending anyone back who is here to seek asylum is a human rights abuse and categorically should not happen.

OneNewLeader · 11/07/2025 12:22

How?

Quirkswork · 11/07/2025 12:23

Namitynamename · 11/07/2025 12:15

I don't know who Simon Fein is. But my phone auto carrot was determined.

Naughty auto carrot

NotAnotherHeatwave · 11/07/2025 12:36

BoredZelda · 11/07/2025 00:08

We can’t send them home immediately. That would be against international law.

“That money” is estimated as £9 billion. Sounds a lot for sure. But when you consider that we will spend £1200 billion in the U.K. in 2025 that’s 0.75%.

To put it in to context, if we spread that money across the 68.3 million people living in the U.K., that’s about £130 quid each. We spend £220 billion on pensions in the U.K. If we took the whole of that £9 billion and gave it just to pensioners, it would increase the pension by less than £5 a week. That isn’t solving anyone’s problems.

£9 billion will not “fix the country”, it won’t even touch the sides.

So how do Australia manage it if it’s against international law?

BoredZelda · 11/07/2025 12:39

shaqueena25 · 11/07/2025 12:10

£9.50 a week doesn’t pay for their bags full of designer sports gear from JD I see them shopping for … getting their nails done the few women who are here . Please don’t make it sound like they are having a rough time of it cus they definitely aren’t . If they were they wouldn’t want to come here in their thousands . This has to stop !!!

You’ve checked the immigration status of those people? Or do you assume anyone brown is an asylum seeker? Illegal Immigrants are far more likely to be exploited, in slavery, making those clothes and doing the nails than spending hundreds of pounds of tax payers money buying that stuff. Asylum Seekers tend not to be working anywhere because if they get caught, they can never claim asylum anywhere.

13 million Syrians have been displaced by war. Half of them remain in Syria. Half of those who leave remain in the Middle East. Only a million have come to Europe, 20,000 of whom came to the U.K. Worldwide there are 37.5 million refugees. The top ten countries where most of them ended up are low or middle income countries. Fewer than 1% of the world’s refugees end up in the U.K. One would think if we provided a life comfortable enough for designer gear and nails, we’d see far more than that risking their lives to get here.

The “few” women who are here are actually 43% of the total number of people granted asylum in the U.K.

I have no issue with people questioning immigration and what we should do about it, but it is really important you look for the actual data that is embarrassingly easy to find instead of basing your opinions on memes from SM accounts with names like ‘Britain First”.

Viviennemary · 11/07/2025 12:40

Because Australia probably don't welcome illegal immigrants with open arms and put them up in hotels.

MiloMinderbinder925 · 11/07/2025 12:45

EggnogNoggin · 11/07/2025 11:59

You're making your own point about why he is electable: deprivation.

Deprived people vote to save their own resources. The more people are taxed and the lower the perceived standard of living and access to good services, the more people experience deprivation.

Brexit happened because of a perception of sending money to the EU and free movement. Immigration continues and so does the terminal decline of UK services and tax increases. Its why immigration is becoming a more unpalatable.

A childhood analogy is that 10 children buy 100 sweets are and share them. 2 new children arrive and the first 10 children share them with the new kids. The first 10 children don't mind to begin with but then 2 more children join and the first 10 children start to resent the idea of paying for 90 sweets, because sweets are now more expensive AND sharing them with 4 kids are who aren't contributing to the sweet kitty. They start thinking "why should I?" So if an adult comes along and tells them they can have 100 sweets and not share them, of course they are willing to take a chance, even if it sounds too good to be true, because noone else is saying that they will help them and have been looking on and offering no meaningful intervention.

Could you explain what Farage has achieved in a year? Many thanks.

BoredZelda · 11/07/2025 12:49

NotAnotherHeatwave · 11/07/2025 12:36

So how do Australia manage it if it’s against international law?

Australia doesn’t send them home.

But also, Australia has had some of its offshore detention centres ruled as illegal and had to pay 70 million dollars to the refugees it illegally incarcerated in them. The UNHCR has ruled against Australia in two landmark rulings in January. It said “A state cannot escape its human rights responsibilities when outsourcing asylum protection to another State.

In short, Australia manages by breaching international law.

BoredZelda · 11/07/2025 12:50

Viviennemary · 11/07/2025 12:40

Because Australia probably don't welcome illegal immigrants with open arms and put them up in hotels.

The U.K. doesn’t welcome illegal immigrants and put them up in hotels either.

1457bloom · 11/07/2025 12:51

I don’t see many countries abiding by international law, Israel, Russia, US, China?

loulouljh · 11/07/2025 12:56

He is utterly utterly useless.....

Usernamenotavailable19 · 11/07/2025 12:57

BoredZelda · 11/07/2025 08:27

Yes, tiny number. Fewer than 9% of migrants entered the U.K. on small boats in 2024. Even if the boats were stopped, net migration would still have been around 400,000. Worth noting too, the vast majority of asylum claims are granted, and refugees are a minority of the net migration figures. I say again, the U.K. has a legal duty to look after refugees, as does every other Country, many of whom are taking way more than we do.

I have lived in areas which are far more diverse, I much prefer it.

Out of interest should we have housed Ukrainian refugees?

21,000 people coming here on boats since January of this year alone is not a ‘tiny’ number. How many of these asylum seekers are you willing to house?
but it’s fine because you love living in diverse areas.

lazyarse123 · 11/07/2025 12:58

gamerchick · 11/07/2025 12:11

Like alligator alcatraz in Florida? I think people in the UK would be quite happy to treat people like that I'm starting to think. No medical care, no protection from bugs, no water for toilets or washing. Sound alike right up the street of a lot of people.

Did I say treat them as less than? A bed, food, heat and washing facilities is surely more than what they're allegedly escaping from. Which is a hell of a lot more than our homeless vets are getting.
We have whole families in b&bs because they can't afford private rent, why isn't something being done about that?

MiloMinderbinder925 · 11/07/2025 13:02

EggnogNoggin · 11/07/2025 12:11

People willfully admitted voting for Brexit with no idea what it meant. Loads of interviews online where people had no idea what it meant and voting regardless.

This one link even indicates that 59% of people couldn't name the Prime Minister on 2015.

People vote for people who say what the want to hear. They don't vote for people who aren't delivering.

So again, it doesn't matter whether Reform can do better - the say the words people want to hear and they haven't had the chance to fuck up immigration yet.

Like it or not, Reform are tapping in to people who don't feel heard or don't usually vote.

So you don't think Brexit not only screwed up immigration - it increased and people stayed rather than going home to the EU. It was built on lies, 350m wasn't going to the NHS and immigration didn't stop. It has come at quite a significant cost. Therefore it didn't deliver.

Like Trump, Farage is just saying what people want to hear and wiped his hands off the repercussions of Brexit. Farage has 4 MPs and his councillors are not doing well. Farage hasn't delivered for his constituents. There's little you can say to people to convince them otherwise if they don't examine the facts.

MidnightMeltdown · 11/07/2025 13:10

TopPocketFind · 11/07/2025 11:36

Seeking asylum is a human right and every person in the world has the right to apply for asylum if they are fleeing conflict or persecution. They must not be expelled or returned to situations where their lives or freedoms would be in danger. This is the principle of non-refoulement which is enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention. It is also part of human rights law and customary international law and must be guaranteed by all countries.

They are supposed to apply in the first safe country they get to - not cross a continent to get to the UK!

The reason they come here is because we are the idiots who accept them. In France <20% of applications are successful compared to >70% in the UK.

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