Why do Asylum Seekers cross the channel on small boats

Immigration has clearly become a major issue with certain demographics - generally the older folk, and I do feel it needs addressing in order for the current climate to be addressed and the excuse for rioting stopped.
How can you address immigration apart from stopping it? Or reducing to 10s of thousands as was promised years ago. I think many people are upset by what they see with their own eyes, places which have sadly gone downhill when the demographics change. For some people this translates into anger, and it only takes one event to trigger violence.

Meanwhile and unfortunately we have anti-immigration rhetoric being pushed on a daily basis. It is relentless and Reform and other individuals are responsible, for misinformation on an industrial scale and as we have seen incitement.
Well unless people are actually lying they are not doing anything wrong. If they are simply drawing people's attention to the truth then that is the right thing to do. I'm sure you would agree with that as it swings both ways.

Chestnut

GrannyGravy13

Britain is not broken

The entire world is in a state of flux add in the numerous wars, along with the divisions between the haves and the have nots and it’s a perfect recipe for unrest and mass exodus of peoples.

I'm afraid people were labelling us Broken Britain years ago long before covid and the current wars, and even before the mass migration started. It was clear we were not coping 10 years ago.

Way, way before that - remember the 1970s? Like all countries we go through peaks and troughs.

GrannyGravy13

Britain is not broken

The entire world is in a state of flux add in the numerous wars, along with the divisions between the haves and the have nots and it’s a perfect recipe for unrest and mass exodus of peoples.

I'm afraid people were labelling us Broken Britain years ago long before covid and the current wars, and even before the mass migration started. It was clear we were not coping 10 years ago.

Chestnut

Whitewavemark2

It is indisputable that immigration helps grow an economy, encourages innovation and brings in foreign investment.

It is also indisputable that there isn’t a single economy in the world that has not thrived without immigration.

Fine, but don't you think 1.22 million new arrivals last year is enough? We had half a million leaving (who can blame them?) which makes net migration in 2023 of 685,000. Yet you keep wanting more as if it's never enough.

Those entering the U.K. other than asylum seekers are usually doing so on visa and are being employed in areas where labour is in short supply.

I do not want more and more immigrants. I do however want immigration which meets our economic needs, as do all modern economies.

Immigration has clearly become a major issue with certain demographics - generally the older folk, and I do feel it needs addressing in order for the current climate to be addressed and the excuse for rioting stopped.

Meanwhile and unfortunately we have anti-immigration rhetoric being pushed on a daily basis. It is relentless and Reform and other individuals are responsible, for misinformation on an industrial scale and as we have seen incitement.

Cossy

Chestnut

Another 700 boat people arrived yesterday. One day!

It seems some of you just cannot see where this is leading. We don't have enough housing etc. to support those already here, so how can we provide for a continuous stream of new arrivals?

Can anyone who has posted in support of endless immigration answer that question please.

No can answer your question because no one on GN has ever ever supported “endless immigration”

Anyone who supports immigration (on this thread or elsewhere) does support 'endless' immigration. Because it is endless! Or maybe you can tell us exactly when it will end. Can you give us a date when you will no longer support immigration? If not then you do support 'endless' immigration.

Cossy, when people emigrate from this country, my understanding is that they either have to be able to prove they can support themselves or go through an application process to apply for jobs where there are skills shortages in the country they are applying to enter.

Anyway, we are all agreed that we are Broken Britain and hope for a better future for our grandchildren.

Britain is not broken

The entire world is in a state of flux add in the numerous wars, along with the divisions between the haves and the have nots and it’s a perfect recipe for unrest and mass exodus of peoples.

Cossy

Chestnut

On this we can agree.

We are indeed Broken Britain, you and I simply don’t agree on the “why”, but I’m sure we all want better.

It's broken because we can't provide for those already here, so please don't tell me we need more people to not provide for.

So, quick question, those against immigration to this country, are you against immigration of Brits from this Country?

Whitewavemark2

It is indisputable that immigration helps grow an economy, encourages innovation and brings in foreign investment.

It is also indisputable that there isn’t a single economy in the world that has not thrived without immigration.

Fine, but don't you think 1.22 million new arrivals last year is enough? We had half a million leaving (who can blame them?) which makes net migration in 2023 of 685,000. Yet you keep wanting more as if it's never enough.

Chestnut

On this we can agree.

We are indeed Broken Britain, you and I simply don’t agree on the “why”, but I’m sure we all want better.

Chestnut

Cossy However the “whole world” aren’t seeking asylum here, far far more immigrants come to this country via legal means.
Well as you can see from my map, people from all over the world are coming here, whether they are migrants or seeking asylum. It's simply not sustainable to have an endless flow of people entering the country.

I’m not looking at your map again, it tells precisely nothing.

Let’s agree to disagree.

I will state once again I’m not, and never have, advocated “endless immigration” or housing “the whole world”.

I live in a very multi cultural area, a large seaside location, lots of homeless, lots of hostels, lots of HMOs, normally no more trouble than any other very large town.

LizzieDrip

^In the meanwhile Chestnut which are the first professions you suggest we restrict. Doctors? dentists? IT staff?^

Good question M0nica!

I'm not suggesting we restrict any professions. What a strange idea. It's in our interest to stick to those jobs we need filling. Although I'm not happy to be stealing qualified people from other countries who need them more than we do. I'd rather we trained our own people and not bring more people in. After all, 67 million should provide enough of a workforce. The other countries need these people and shouldn't be sending them here.
And yes, I know training people takes time and should have been done years ago. The whole system is failing and that's why we're called 'Broken Britain'.

Too many negatives! That should read that has thrived without immigration

It is indisputable that immigration helps grow an economy, encourages innovation and brings in foreign investment.

It is also indisputable that there isn’t a single economy in the world that has not thrived without immigration.

How will we fill all the nursing and care vacancies without migration from abroad?

Cossy However the “whole world” aren’t seeking asylum here, far far more immigrants come to this country via legal means.
Well as you can see from my map, people from all over the world are coming here, whether they are migrants or seeking asylum. It's simply not sustainable to have an endless flow of people entering the country.

In the meanwhile Chestnut which are the first professions you suggest we restrict. Doctors? dentists? IT staff?

Good question M0nica!

Cossy I am far from arrogant. I consider I do not have the right to live and be supported in any other country either.

That was never the case maddyone, the UK has been taking thousands of refugees every year since WW2, and took many before that going back centuries on an ad hoc basis too.. Here’s a potted history from the Refugee Council.
www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/about-us/our-history/
When I was a child in the 1960s there were lots of Polish and Hungarian people who had been refugees.

Wyllow3

Seeking asylum is a human right in the UK. BevSec.

It's in Article 14 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights . (UN)

Of course it is, and that’s as it should be.

However, I remember as a child, when someone claimed asylum in Britain, it was actually put on the main news because it was so rare. Usually the people came from the Soviet Union, as it was called then, and the asylum seeker was said to have defected.
Now we have hundreds arriving every day, I think 700 yesterday alone, and that’s on top of over a million arriving legally last year. After the the numbers were adjusted to account for those who left, the legal additions came down to around 750,000. Now anyone who is able to think is able to see that this country (and other European countries who are facing the same challenges) cannot continue to absorb these many people every year.
I don’t know the solution, I just know that there are many wars in the world and much poverty, but Europe cannot continue to simply cope with this situation. Something will give in the end.

Chestnut

Another 700 boat people arrived yesterday. One day!

It seems some of you just cannot see where this is leading. We don't have enough housing etc. to support those already here, so how can we provide for a continuous stream of new arrivals?

Can anyone who has posted in support of endless immigration answer that question please.

No can answer your question because no one on GN has ever ever supported “endless immigration”

Chestnut

Why do you think the whole world has the right to apply for asylum in our little country which already holds 67 million people? We are not the Tardis!

Whatever argument you put forth, we simply do not have the housing, schools, hospitals, GPs, dentists etc. to keep adding to our population. We can't even keep our waterways clean. How can we possibly cope with an endless stream of new arrivals when we can't provide for those already here?

Nobody does. Italy has far more illegal immigrants entering the country on boats crossing the mediterranean, likewise Greece and Turkey.

Boat/lorry/and other illegal immigrants are a very small proportion of total immigrants the rest legal and many of the ones coming legally are the GPs, dentists etc. , not to mention care workers, engineers, high tech qualified staff this country needs at present.

We are letting other countries train our doctors, dentists, etc etc and then we sweep them up and get them training costs free. A win/win situation for Government. I would like to see the government forced to pay one years training costs to the training country for every year they stay in this country. The payment would stop when all training costs had been reimbursed.

In the meanwhile Chestnut which are the first professions you suggest we restrict. Doctors? dentists? IT staff?

We need to address this problem as it is and think through why thes people want to come here - political oppression in their own country, dire poverty that will lead to a consortium of people fnancing one immigrant so that they can send money home. The govrnance in these countries that causes this poverty. Our failure to train sufficient doctors, nurses, engineers etc. The dire working conditions in many hospitals etc etc.

The very slow processing of illegal immigrants. They are costing a fortune to house in hotels, not because so many are coming in but because they are not being processed sufficiently quickly. It can frquently take years for an immigrant to get a final decision.

BevSec

Chestnut, you are quite right, the rest of the world has no right to come here whatsoever. Someone in the Daily Mail wrote in to say she is glad she has a terminal illness so will not have to witness the breakdown in our society as a result of the immigration.

There is no breakdown in our society, it’s all in your heads!

How arrogant are you? “The rest of the world has no right whatsoever to come here”

There are no words!

Chestnut

Why do you think the whole world has the right to apply for asylum in our little country which already holds 67 million people? We are not the Tardis!

Whatever argument you put forth, we simply do not have the housing, schools, hospitals, GPs, dentists etc. to keep adding to our population. We can't even keep our waterways clean. How can we possibly cope with an endless stream of new arrivals when we can't provide for those already here?

The “whole world” including us, under international law, are entitled to seek asylum in a country of their choosing (and this includes “us”), AND have to be in said country before they can apply.

However the “whole world” aren’t seeking asylum here, far far more immigrants come to this country via legal means.