Politics are moderating in the U.K.

Interesting blog that picks up, I think, the theme of this thread

Despite what you may have heard, the British public are increasingly liberal and left-wing

Britain’s electorate today is more liberal on cultural issues and more left on economic issues than it was when we last went to the polls in December 2019.

Using data from the British Election Study (BES) (thanks to the analysis of Paula Surridge in The British General Election of 2019), it is possible to measure where voters sit on a left-right scale of economic values using a series of survey items asked regularly since 1992. This includes four of the five items from the original Heath et al. (1994) scale to enable comparisons over time.

willjennings.substack.com/p/despite-what-you-may-have-heard-the

Aveline

I'd like to see the economic migrants rounded up, processed and sent home too. What did they actually expect?

How do you expect anybody to identify the "economic migrants" until the asylum applications have been processed?

Aveline

I'd like to see the economic migrants rounded up, processed and sent home too. What did they actually expect?

I'm sure they will be once the Home Office gets round to processing asylum applications.

In the meantime, the government thinks that demonising asylum seekers and keeping them in hotels for months, if not years on end, so that all sorts of rumours and conflicts and hatreds can be well embedded in people's consciousnesses will be a winning strategy to get them votes in the next General Election.

After all, it worked for the Brexit vote, didn't it?

I'd like to see the economic migrants rounded up, processed and sent home too. What did they actually expect?

Aveline

The increased number of economic migrants. Round we go again.

So identify the "economic migrants" quickly and send them back home! It's not rocket science.

Incidentally, I'd like to see some verified facts about the increasing number of "economic migrants".

But but but ... some people keep bleating on about the cost of housing asylum seekers. Where does that money come from? Surely taxation spent on preventing huge backlogs of people waiting the outcome of asylum applications would be money well spent.

Blaming the asylum seekers is playing into the Tory agenda of the culture wars that they are intending to pursue leading up to the election. They have nothing else - no policies or past record.

The political choice by the Tory party NOT to have a centre at the Channel crossing has ensured thousands Unnecessarily travelling in plastic boats to seek asylum. This would cut the backlog at a stroke.

ExperiencedNotOld

Fact: if you think the government tardy in the processing of asylum applications then be willing to pay more tax. It’s work extra to budget for running the UK.
And that’s not the Tories fault!

Taxation doesn't fund spending, ENO.

Shortage of staff and failure to recruit more are political choices, not a shortage of money.

If the government had an efficient method of processing, which allowed asylum seekers to work whilst their application was processed, so solving the hospitality employment problem, several other problems would be solved as well. Genuine asylum seekers would be paying tax and contributing, they could be charged a reasonable amount for accommodation, so reducing costs and adding tothe UK economy. More money could then be spent on processing and perhaps fast tracking unaccompanied children and Albanians. This would mean the economic migrants could be returned to their own country asap, which would effectively make people trafficking from those countries uneconomic and it would stop. The present system just enables the gang masters to send young people on boats, and have them accommodated in known places, until such time as they are required for work. It is in effect encouraging the boat system. The government must know this, but having a group of people you can attribute blame to is just so convenient isn't it?

“Refugees aren't the reason you can’t get a Hospital/Drs appointment

Refugees aren't the reason you could not eat this week

Refugees aren't the reason the country has food banks & high energy prices

Refugees aren't the reason you can’t buy or rent a home”

Dan White

The increased number of economic migrants. Round we go again.

ExperiencedNotOld

Fact: if you think the government tardy in the processing of asylum applications then be willing to pay more tax. It’s work extra to budget for running the UK.
And that’s not the Tories fault!

then whose fault is it?

Fact: if you think the government tardy in the processing of asylum applications then be willing to pay more tax. It’s work extra to budget for running the UK.
And that’s not the Tories fault!

The Home Office is responsible for allocation of refugees and asylum seekers Anniel Some people seeking asylum are moved to Scotland , Wales and NI as part of the UK Government’s dispersal policy within the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.

My daughter has been to Albania for a holiday. Don’t ask me why but my sister and her family flew all the way from the Far East to Albania for their holiday too.

Albania is a very safe country. Any Albanians who come over to the UK are economic migrants not refugees.

If the government allows the Albanians to stay, then they are being unfair to another group of people who try to enter this country legally.

a) People from Hong Kong. A family of 4 from Hong Kong has to pay £11k just to access NHS. On top of that, they have to pay for their visas which run into a few thousands pounds

b)The foreign spouse of a British citizen. The British spouse has to earn £18.5 pa, if earning less, has to have a bank balance of £65k before their foreign spouse is allowed to enter this country. The foreign spouse too has to pay to access NHS. May have to attend English classes.

A growing number of the Ukrainian refugees in the UK are becoming homeless.

The South East of England is very overcrowded. In fact England has a much greater population density than other UK country. Now Scotland has lots of room as does Wales ( outside the biggest cities) Eire and Northern Ireland probably have more room. So can anyone tell me the breakdown of figures of numbers of Asylum Seekers for different parts of UK?

The myths are that the Albanians come only to UK - and that the UK takes more than our share of asylum seekers.

Not myths. Info re Albanians. Interesting that far more Albanian women are granted asylum than men as they may be trafficked. Now most Albanian applications are from men.
My queries not answered though.

More myths.
migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/commentaries/albanian-asylum-seekers-in-the-uk-and-eu-a-look-at-recent-data/

Why the UK though? If all the young men leave a country how can it ever possibly improve? Bulgaria is not a barren wasteland for example. Just because the cannabis industry there is a main one doesn't mean to say it's the only one possible.
Why always come West btw? Genuine question. Not all middle Eastern or African countries are at war or otherwise uninhabitable.
I'm not meaning to be awkward just trying to get away from the polarisation of all immigrants are welcome vs all immigrants are undesirable. I'm trying to think all round the issue.

Urmstongran
You ask why are they coming to the uk
I’m assuming you haven’t been there 😄 We took a detour one year on our way back to Bulgaria. Tirana is a modern city.
Outside of that it is extremely poor. No industry as such unless you can count harvesting cannabis ( of which there is a lot) an industry 🤔

Urmstongran

Ah growstuff. What I chose to do in life eh?
It seems to really rankle you as you often bring it up.
“Swan around” is quite a telling statement!
We are not remotely wealthy.
We sold an ordinary semi & bought 2 small apartments.
We run a car which is 17y old.
We don’t spend money on a garden, hobbies or a horse/boat/pets as some do on this forum.

I have absolutely no issue with people wishing to come and live in the UK. Everyone deserves a decent life - of course they do. And the UK is pretty wonderful. Tolerant, kind and accepting of immigrants, their faiths and hopes.

Just don’t come over on a rubber dinghy.

But that's the problem. Safe routes have been closed off. People wouldn't choose to come in rubber dinghies if their claims could be processed in France, as the French government have offered and the British government has refused.

Aveline

And it seems like many of them could have a decent life in any of several other countries or even in their own. Genuine asylum seekers are not the problem.

The vast majority of asylum requests are granted. This is a government website giving facts and figures. www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2021/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to

The problem is not the tabloid figure of the 'bogus asylum seeker'. the problem is the delay in processing, which could be easily solved.

Ah growstuff. What I chose to do in life eh?
It seems to really rankle you as you often bring it up.
“Swan around” is quite a telling statement!
We are not remotely wealthy.
We sold an ordinary semi & bought 2 small apartments.
We run a car which is 17y old.
We don’t spend money on a garden, hobbies or a horse/boat/pets as some do on this forum.

I have absolutely no issue with people wishing to come and live in the UK. Everyone deserves a decent life - of course they do. And the UK is pretty wonderful. Tolerant, kind and accepting of immigrants, their faiths and hopes.

Just don’t come over on a rubber dinghy.