A responsible government has a duty to protect our borders. We must know who is coming in and who is going out of the country, at our airports and ports. Again, this is basic common sense.
Let’s welcome those who have high level skills and talents that we need — such as doctors, engineers, software developers, scientists and surgeons — in tightly controlled numbers that meet our requirements.
Net zero immigration means that the number legally allowed to enter to live and work in the UK each year should equal the number emigrating, so the overall population remains approximately the same. Some 400,000 people leave every year so there is plenty of scope for bringing in the skills and people we need.
This policy will mean wages for lower paid will rise, it will help young British workers and so help to significantly reduce the number of people on out of work benefits. It will reduce pressure on affordable housing and public services,
given that we already have a record high population. We want these valuable people to come and work in the UK legally, and play by the rules, respecting our values.
Illegal immigration is unacceptable and those entering illegally must not be granted asylum in the UK. Reform UK is the only party committed to stopping the boats. We must adopt the tactics used by Australia when they stopped the boats. We must declare a national security threat, leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and use existing legislation robustly to stop this illegal trade. We must also use offshore processing centres as Australia did.
We must also create a new Department of Immigration staffed with people who believe in the task at hand, to protect our borders. The Home Office is simply not fit for purpose.
Everyone must understand that no-one coming via these illegal routes will be allowed to stay in the UK. Cases must be determined in just a few weeks and people returned to where they came from. The vast majority of the claimants are economic migrants or from Albania under the oversight of their criminal gangs.
The cost to the taxpayer is already billions every year and the impact on local communities around the country is very significant. However most people who are concerned are afraid to speak out on this issue for fear of being labelled or smeared.
My wife is an immigrant from Thailand. by the time she gets British citizenship it will have taken 5 years, 3 visas and over £13000. I have no problem with this except that it does not apply to all immigrants.
I told her recently that id she’d come across the channel illegally in a boat she wouldn’t have had to pay anything.
This is the most balanced and logical policy I have read or heard on the subject.
The disparity between how we treat illegal migrants and people such as your wife is truly baffling to me. It needs to stop.