Our asylum system makes Britain a laughing stock

FUTURE historians are going to look back at the way we allow asylum seekers to abuse the system and think we went completely mad. What other conclusion can be drawn about the 17-year-old Somali who was not granted asylum in Sweden (sensible Sweden), attempted to get to Canada and has ended up being locked up here?

It is this country that will have the expense of looking after him in a young offenders’ institution and needless to say he will be free to apply for asylum here on his release.

It is stories such as this that have made so many people completely lose faith with the political class. Sometimes there almost seems something wilful about the authorities’ refusal to engage with the problem, or indeed use any common sense. Why can they not act in accordance with the will of the people? We are absolutely sick of being taken advantage of, we are sick of harbouring undesirables in this country and we are sick of a system that is not fit for purpose.

And what kind of message is this sending out? Make no mistake: the rest of the world is going to be watching this little saga and what they will learn from it is that if a Somali asylum seeker manages to gain access to Heathrow then there is a very good chance they will not be leaving the UK any time soon.

The whole situation is an absolute disgrace and we in Britain have become a laughing stock.