This migrant problem is going to let Reform in isn’t it?

[EvangelicalAboutButteredToast]

Honestly it’s such a bloody nightmare. Reform are making a total hash of local government from what I’ve read, putting teenagers in charge of whole departments with no relevant experience. What are they going to do if they are elected to run a country!!!! I’m honestly terrified. Labour need to be seen to be actively doing something to quell the far-right momentum that’s gaining traction from ordinary folk. I’m amazed at the average, usually pretty sensible people around me who are now telling me they are going to vote Reform.

there was an interview I saw yesterday where the minister said that thousands of people were being deported regularly. The interviewer asked why there were no videos of this and she said there could be. Well let’s see it! It would absolutely help.

Well, if we don't rescue them or we prevent them from landing, so they then run out of fuel and the boat sinks and we do nothing, then yes of course we are ultimately responsible.

What else is it?

Only 20% of the electorate voted for Labour. If half now regret their vote, that leaves Labour on 10% of the overall electorate.

If Farage can motivate non-voters to vote, just like he did with Brexit, Labour don't stand a chance.

Thats like me saying 32% of the electorate voted for Brexit... you'd soon shoot me down on that!!

34% of people who voted, voted for Labour, way above any other party.

Of those 34% almost 80% prefer Labour over Reform

So atm Reform wont win a majority, the Tories are dead, predicted to win, atm less than 60 MPs, so that leaves Lab and the LD's.....

We had a poor turn out in 2024, likely to be even lower in 2029, so Farage has his work cut out and its on area in a GE, not nationally like a Referendum.

That is ridiculous.
They might fall over on the beach if we let them land! Horror!

You’d only have to do it for a week or so and they’d stop coming. They don’t cross from the Netherlands because Dutch police stopped them, destroyed the boats. They came across from France because they and we let them.

Tory voters stayed at home because Sunak was so crap.

Starmer's response - 'Hold my beer'.

Migrant hotels are the wild card that will motivate disgruntled Tories, 'Traditional Labour' and non-voters to turn out for Reform.

People see current immigration trends as an existential threat to their safety, children's futures, way of life and birthright.

Doubling down on the current tactics of calling everybody Far Right will annihilate Labour.

Did they? have you a link to this action by the Dutch police?

Have you next weeks Euro millions winning numbers?

Like i said, 4 years is many lifetimes in politics.

Farage is, right now, being investigated over MPs expenses, who knows whether he, Starmer or Badenoch will be party leaders in 2029?

Yes why can’t we try something different.

the current policies aren’t working

i feel really sorry for my Dgc.

I’m sure I read a while ago that Dutch police stopped the boats but can only find a link to Belgian police
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/09/05/copy-belgium-intercept-channel-migrant-boats-sea-france/

www.thesun.co.uk/news/23558134/belgians-stopped-illegal-migrants-small-boat-crossings/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14955981/Thousands-Waterlooville-protest-Home-Office-asylum-seekers.html#

It's a red hot topic and it will remain one because Labour have zero intention of taking the necessary steps to stop the boats and deport the chancers.

Surely the French coastguard/lifeboats are responsible if they're not over half way across the channel? Why aren't they criticised if they don't and it's left to the UK's RNLI to rescue them?

How about grown adults taking responsibility for themselves?

If it’s like this and more until the GE we can try something different, we just need to vote for it.

It's hybrid warfare by the French against the UK - at least that's what we call it when Putin does the same thing to Finland and Poland.

Any ship, boat of any nationality is obliged to render assistance if they can .

In the last 7 days alone, 1004 migrants have crossed the channel.
That's just the ones who were detected.

International maritime law mandates that ships at sea assist individuals in distress, regardless of their nationality, status, or the circumstances leading to their peril. This obligation is a fundamental principle of maritime tradition and is enshrined in treaties like the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). Search and Rescue (SAR) operations are also coordinated by coastal states, with international cooperation encouraged.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
Universal Obligation:
All ships are required to render assistance to those in danger at sea, provided it doesn't seriously endanger the rescuing ship.
International Conventions:
The UNCLOS (Article 98) and SOLAS (Chapter V) explicitly outline this duty.
SAR Conventions:
The International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) establishes the framework for coordinating SAR operations, including the establishment of SAR regions and the role of coastal states.
No Exception for Cause of Distress:
The duty to rescue applies regardless of how the person came to be in distress.
Coordination and Cooperation:
Coastal states are responsible for establishing and coordinating SAR services within their designated areas.
Safe Place of Disembarkation:
SAR conventions emphasize the need to ensure rescued persons are taken to a safe place.
No State Can Prohibit Rescue:
A state cannot legally prohibit its vessels from undertaking rescue operations.
Is turning back migrants at sea compatible with international law?
13 Sept 2021 — Article 98 obliges states to require all masters of a ship to help anyone in danger at sea, so long as it does not also cause serious danger to the ...

The House
of Commons Library

And we are the authors of this international law.

If it wasn’t for Brexit there would be no/little issues with boat crossings. I bet a lot of people complaining on here did actually vote for Brexit!
Heres why.
The Dublin III agreement meant we couldn't use our island status to avoid our responsibilities under the refugee convention which we not only signed but co-wrote.

There have always been people smugglers as there is a ready market for cheap or free labour. Backs of lorries used to be the favoured method and, here is the essential difference, those people disappeared into the black economy or to slave labour or to brothels. It is vile and it needs stopping but it didn't result in commandeered former barracks, commandeered hotels or the Bibby Stockholm to house thousands of asylum seekers.

Brexit and leaving the Dublin Agreement changed all that. It opened a huge new market for people traffickers and cross channel rubber boats became the norm after January 2020. Almost all of these people now hand themselves over to border control as asylum seekers. The previous government had no alternative but to house them, there was nothing else legal that they could do. They gave up assessing claims and the problem just multiplied. At least the Labour government has begun assessing claims again, accepting those successful and allowing then to become useful members of our society and, where they legally can, they have deported those who were unsuccessful.

I'm afraid you have to accept that Brexit caused the small boats crisis and the massive accommodation bill.

DA has been debunked. We barely sent anyone back and EU are facing the same problems with irregular migration.

Is there any evidence that the migrants crossing in boats would not have started if we had stayed in the EU? Or would they have come anyway?

Yes they used to come when we were in the EU as well but not in these numbers

I think some of them were in Holland then came to the UK as the Dutch got fed up with them being non productive but then we get stuck with them

The Dublin agreement never worked.

It's amazing how people imbibe these supposedly clever talking points without bothering to check the reality.

https://copilot.microsoft.com/shares/UVokfRC613HeqtJVTsVAv

Yes exactly. It's really easy to find the info on this.

I think the exponential rise we have seen over recent years would have happened with or without Brexit.

So why were there hardly any boats before Brexit?

Because they were coming by lorry. The channel tunnel security was improved and now they come by boat.