𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The latest Home Office migration figures show that, for all of their tough talk, this Government still has no plan for creating the kind of immigration system that the British people want. The stats show that there are now more than 100,000 people in asylum accommodation, most of whom have no legal right to be here.

And worse, the Government is pushing more of those people out into communities up and down the country. After a series of protests outside asylum hotels last summer, the Government has moved to get people out of hotels, and into so-called ‘dispersal accommodation’. That means asylum seekers, most of whom are young men, in residential housing, on ordinary streets.

By their very nature, we know very little about these people. What we do know is that, far too often, they pose a direct risk to the public, particularly to women and girls.

And in dispersal accommodation, there are even fewer safeguards and checks than in the asylum hotels. Illegal migrants will be able to work illegally, roam the streets, and disappear out into the country, creating even more risk for all of us.

Instead of pushing these asylum seekers out into our streets, the Government should be removing them from the country altogether.

Yet when push comes to shove, they’ve shown that they’re just not willing to tackle this issue. One of the first things that Labour did in Government was scrap rules which meant that those who arrive here illegally can never apply for asylum.

So it should come as no surprise that while we’ve seen numbers of illegal Channel crossings under Labour, just 6% of small boat arrivals have been removed.

Instead, many of them are now living in our communities. Has the Government learned nothing from the case of Hadush Kebatu, the small boat migrant who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old schoolgirl and another woman within just one week in the country, while staying at an asylum hotel in Epping?

To solve this issue for good, we need to bring back the ban on asylum for those who arrive here illegally, and get rid of the legal barriers which stop us from deporting them, either to their home country or to a safe third country.

We must not, under any circumstances, put people at risk because the law prevents us from controlling our borders. Any law which stops us from carrying out that basic duty must be changed.

This is the very least that the British public deserves. They’ve never voted to lose control of our borders, or to invite unvetted illegal migrants onto their streets.

Time and time again, whenever they’ve been asked, they’ve told politicians to get control of this issue. This Labour Government is letting them down.