I would be interested to hear from any politician or indeed, individual, who has a workable solution to the 51,000 refugees we are accommodating in hotels across the country, at £6 million + per day cost to taxpayers. Build housing for them perhaps? Of course not, we can’t do that for our present citizens, so not possible! Speed up massively the processing of their applications, (many of which may be spurious)? Oh sorry! A strike is happening with Border control and civil servants, isn’t it, so might be problems there! A TV programme the other day pointed out the unsuitability of much of the present hotel accommodation for all concerned. One was in the middle of a retirement village and golf course where the residents of said village were no longer able to use the facilities they had expected to be able to access. The refugee occupants had nothing to do all day as the nearest town was distant. I live in a seaside town where there are many hotels full of refugees, again with nothing to do. There are numerous local problems, one of which made national news. While we, like other countries, have a duty to help true refugees who arrive here from politically unsafe or war torn countries, I am at a loss to understand how the number of ‘refugees’ (often young males) from European countries which are deemed safe and who pass through numerous safe countries to reach our shores are classed as refugees at all. I volunteer in a sector that involves refugees from Ukraine and Afghanistan and there certainly is a distinction despite all the handwringing from champagne socialists such as Lineker et al. It is certainly becoming a huge problem which if not dealt with soon will impact every area of peoples lives, unless one is wealthy enough not to use nor need the social infrastructure which is failing in every area of this country in general and in this situation particularly. Answers on a postcard please?
