Cross-Channel migrant numbers double in year
NUMBERS of migrants crossing the English Channel have almost doubled so far in 2021.
More than 3,100 people have made the perilous journey to the UK compared with 1,600 at the same time last year, according to analysis by the PA news agency.
Crossings have spiked since March last year because of Covid-19 travel restrictions and increased border security, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA). Criminal gangs are using bigger boats – targeting small ports away from the busy Dover Strait.
Those trying to enter the UK hidden in vehicles on ferries or aboard flights fell in 2020 but returned to pre-lockdown levels in the final weeks of the year, the NCA said.
ANNOUNCING this week a wholesale reform of our immigration system, Priti Patel is delivering on making UK borders safer and fairer for genuine asylum seekers. Ever since Britain took in French Huguenot refugees over 300 years ago, we have a proud record of providing a safe haven but the Home Secretary is right to stand against criminal gangs exploiting the system.
Britons want a “new system that works for the law-abiding majority and against those who abuse our hospitality and generosity,” she says. “One that welcomes those most in need of sanctuary and one that slams the door on dangerous criminals. One that attracts top talent from around the world.”
Until recently, politicians have treated the subject of immigration as a hot potato and inferred that any concern about it is “racist”. But ever since Tony Blair let in a million economic migrants from Eastern Europe from 2004 onwards – when the government predicted 13,000 – voters have grown sceptical about mass migration which has impacted most on poorer sections of society.
Brexit votes in 2016 and 2019 have ensured that free movement from Europe should now be controlled, but we still have the tragic sight of hundreds of illegal migrants risking their lives crossing the Channel in flimsy boats – and making their gangster traffickers rich.
YET when they land on our beaches, there is a bevy of lawyers keen to deploy human rights law to prevent them being sent back. Even foreign criminals have been taken off flights home because of last minute appeals.
“For too long, we have been frustrated by those who know how to play the system,” says Patel. “More than 10,000 foreign national offenders remain in the UK. Among that number are individuals who have committed serious crimes, including murder and rape.” Since the start of the year, the Government has removed over 800 foreign offenders and is now enshrining in law measures to counter vexatious appeals.
It has also brought in tougher sentencing for people smugglers and secured more than 65 small boat-related prosecutions.
No one will be granted refugee status if they arrive illegally in the UK.
But as the daughter of Indian parents forced out of Uganda, the Home Secretary knows the value of Britain as a secure and peaceful destination for legal migrants and is proud to have “established a life in one of the greatest countries in the world”.
Well-managed immigration is essential for any developed nation to prosper.We must welcome talent and investment from around the world. That’s why the Tories are introducing a points-based immigration system that ensures we get the people we need, not those seeking to exploit our social welfare. Key talents in science, business and medicine should be fasttracked into UK residency.
WE must have, above all else, a quick and effective system for ascertaining exactly who is coming across our borders. All visitors to the USA have to fill in an electronic travel form called an ESTA. Priti Patel says we will now introduce our own version of that, Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), which will allow border officials to do security and criminal checks before anyone arrives here. It will also provide up-to-date, accurate numbers of visitors.
More streamlined application rules for legal migrants should
also make it easier for government lawyers to avoid neverending appeals from those subverting the system.
Priti Patel has been good at voicing our legitimate concerns about mass migration, but it will be actions and results that will determine how successful she has been. Prime Minister Boris Johnson must be congratulated for keeping her in her position despite attempts from within the machinery of government to undermine her authority.
Too often it seems that leftleaning civil servants with a pro-immigration agenda have sought to hamper any progress on this issue. Priti Patel has demonstrated once again the necessity for her to be allowed to complete her mission to protect our borders. It’s what many people have voted for and will be her lasting legacy as a politician who might well succeed to become Prime Minister.
That would be a great example of how the UK encourages the ambitious and hard-working to thrive in a country that will always welcome law-abiding incomers and their families.
“I love our country just as much as someone whose greatgreat-grandparents were born here,” says the Home Secretary, “and I want our nation to succeed. The Government is taking back control of immigration.”
‘We have been frustrated by those who know how to play the system’