HOME Secretary Yvette Cooper has a new plan to stop the migrants flooding into this country but is not going to tell you about it. It isn’t about the numbers.
They’re calling the plan one-in, one-out but that isn’t about the numbers either.
PAChannel migrants in a small boat, as record numbers flood across[/caption]
AlamyYvette Cooper isn’t inclined to even reveal how many migrants will be sent back to France under the new scheme[/caption]
More than 25,400 illegal migrants have crossed the Channel this year alone — 50 per cent more than last year — but that’s not about the numbers, apparently.
Ms Cooper isn’t inclined to even reveal how many of them will be sent back to France under the new scheme, because to do so would only aid the people smugglers, or so she claims.
Yesterday we had the rather ludicrous launch of a new policy that doesn’t even do what it says on the tin.
The Government’s hope that this gimmick — for that is plainly what it is — will convince anyone the vile people-smuggling gangs will simply give up trafficking their lucrative quarries is wildly deluded.
Taxpayer’s expense
Any examination of the new system makes it immediately obvious that there is no chance of it working.
The Home Secretary said yesterday that, as of this week, migrants arriving illegally on to our shores will be detained then returned to France.
Ms Cooper said detained “within days” and returned “within weeks”.
But how, exactly? It was what she didn’t say that was of far more interest.
For example, where will they be detained?
As far as we know, there are no workable detention centres anywhere near Dover.
And Manston, the current holding area 20 miles away, is already over capacity.
Ms Cooper has not volunteered any information as to where the arrivals will go.
Neither has she suggested how long they will be held in detention, whether they will go through a court process or, indeed, whether they will be able to access legal services at the taxpayer’s expense.
As if all that wasn’t bad enough, there is simply no explanation at all of how the migrants will be “returned”.
Will they all be packed into the back of a lorry?
Will Border Force take them back to France on their boats? Or will it be down to the RNLI?
One-in, one-out, it may be called, but not one clue is being given as to its likely success
Perhaps the migrants will be put on the Eurostar or flown out of the country on one of those chartered jets.
You might as well throw a dice or toss a coin.
One-in, one-out, it may be called, but not one clue is being given as to its likely success.
The Home Secretary has conceded there “might” be legal challenges in some cases.
So it’s then back to the old right to a family life, under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The public, of course, are under no illusions.
AlamyMs Cooper says that the replacement migrants will be fully documented and legitimised[/caption]
EPAThe Home Secretary conceded that only about 50 migrants will be exchanged per week in the initial pilot stage of the programme[/caption]
My listeners and readers gave me their verdict about all this yesterday.
“If it’s 50,000 in and 50,000 out, they get replaced by another 50,000, so it’s still 50,000 more,” said one wise caller.
Despite Ms Cooper’s claim that this is not about the numbers, the increasingly frustrated and fed-up citizens of this country are very clear that it is.
She has conceded that only about 50 migrants will be exchanged per week in the initial pilot stage of the programme — which is due to run for only 11 months.
That represents just one in 17 of the current small-boat arrivals on to our shores. And so, obviously, the numbers do matter.
Ms Cooper says that the replacement migrants will be fully documented and legitimised.
In effect, they will qualify to come and live here because they can prove who they are and that they have family here.
Does she really think that system won’t be abused?
Asylum seekers in France can now apply online to come to Britain.
So, you can only imagine the numbers that will flock to the French coast in the hopes of a successful application.
In one fell swoop, the Government has taken away the risk of dying in the Channel — instead encouraging the migrants to fill out a form.
Harebrained schemes
And who will assess the suitability of the applicants? Will a family of four from Libya get precedence over two teenage brothers from Eritrea?
And if their application is successful, where will they live? A migrant hotel? Social housing? An army camp?
Of all the harebrained schemes to smash the gangs, stop the boats, fix the system and secure our borders — yes, Sir Keir Starmer has promised to do all four — this is perhaps the worst of all.
It brings yet more people into the country with no perceived skills or reason to be here.
It adds fuel to an already tense situation, up and down the country.
And it will almost certainly fail to do what it is meant to do.
Aside from that, it’ll cost more billions of pounds of our money. I’m not in. I’m out.
Mike Graham presents Morning Glory every week day from 6am-10am on Talk.
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