Boats sailed
WHEN will the Government finally get the message on illegal immigration?
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s announcement of 300 extra National Crime Agency officers to tackle people-smuggling gangs is welcome, of course.
PALabour announced 300 extra National Crime Agency officers to tackle people-smuggling gangs[/caption]
Anything that disrupts this evil trade is a good thing, in the same way that a crackdown is needed on profiteers who employ the migrants on the cheap — no questions asked — when they get here.
But if this £100million investment is the Government’s grand plan to “break the business model” of the crooks then it is doomed to failure.
When the risk-versus-reward equation is so much in their favour, the smugglers and the illegal migrants will always find a way.
The incentives are too great: millions of pounds for the smugglers, for little effort; hand-outs, accommodation and black market jobs for the migrants, with virtually no chance of being deported.
The only way to break the business model is to come up with a deterrent which makes the migrants worry that their money — and the dangers they will face — won’t get them what they want.
Or where they want.
A deterrent like the Rwanda scheme, which was already beginning to work but which Labour couldn’t wait to ditch.
The soaring number of Channel small boats is the inevitable consequence.
Jobs shame
THE number of young people facing unemployment is one of the most heart-breaking results of the Chancellor’s job-wrecking tax hikes.
A million Neets — youngsters Not in Education, Employment or Training — is a disaster for the economy as well as a tragedy for them.
At a time in their lives when they are desperately trying to find their place in the world, a job — or the skills to get one — gives them purpose and a sense of who they are, just as surely as being dumped on benefits crushes that.
The Skills Tax Relief proposed by more than 100 business chiefs would be a vital boost to apprenticeships and vocational training, offering young Brits a route into the workplace.
If Rachel Reeves isn’t swayed by the thought of saving so many from the scrapheap, then she should be swayed by the £10billion of welfare savings it could bring over the next five years.
Sea sore
ALMOST half of Brits say they would never swim in our seas, even in summer.
It’s not the water temperature that puts them off but the sewage dumped in it.
What a blow for our coastal communities and seaside resorts.
And what a damning indictment of the water firms and their overpaid bosses who are responsible for the foul pollution.
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