Mr IxerYou write - 'Perhaps the fix is to address the disparity between the desirability of the UK compared to the source of these would be immigrants'Of course it is, but this is a problem with only a very long term solution.It would for instance require a (more ?) generous aid policy but one that also monitors that the aid goes to local development and not into the off-shore accounts of, in the main, political leaders of dubious probity.And perhaps a more liberal trade policy with these countries which, now we are out of the EU, we could implement.But we still have to acknowledge that an uncontrolled UK immigration policy is not practical and not acceptable to the electorate.Look at the UK illegal immigration numbers from an article in this week's Spectator.'In 2018 there were 299, in 2019 there were 1,843, in 2020 there were 8,466 and in 2021 there were 28,527. So far in 2022 arrivals are running at easily more than twice last year’s month-by-month tally, meaning we are heading for 60,000+ by the end of the year.Extrapolating the trend to the general election year of 2024 takes us into the ballpark of 250,000 – roughly equivalent to the entire population of Wolverhampton or Portsmouth. With 80 million displaced people in the world and billions more living in poor countries under unappetising regimes, nobody should think the supply of migrants will run dry anytime soon. This is the context in which we should view Boris Johnson’s new agreement to transfer an ‘uncapped’ number of cross-Channel arrivals to Rwanda for processing and resettlement'.Also, treaties that were negotiated in very different times should surely not just be disregarded on a whim.But perhaps they need re-evaluating in the light of hugely different circumstances.And in the end, the British electorate will decide.
John Hawkes ● 1156d