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Aug 2023
9:53am, 12 Aug 2023
42,169 posts
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SPR
It's a serious point. The Tories continually flop with their immigration policy but Labour pretend they can control it better instead of presenting another way (it's possible that they are right that another way won't sell to the public because immigration was part of Brexit) so the Tories kind of get away with it.
Not going to pretend that it's an easy choice for Labour here, but at some point someone needs to be honest about it all. It won't be the Tories so we look to Labour.
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Aug 2023
10:05am, 12 Aug 2023
30,762 posts
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Johnny Blaze
Let’s have a little light in on the actual truth (I know some can’t handle the truth, but we must delineate it anyway).
Controversial barges and military camps will still be used temporarily to house asylum seekers if Labour wins the next election, a member of Keir Starmer’s frontbench has said.
The shadow immigration minister, Stephen Kinnock, said the idea made him “deeply unhappy” as it was the last thing the party wanted to do. But he said Labour would have “no choice but to deal with the mess we inherit”.
Kinnock told Sky News on Sunday: “Over the last 13 years, the Tory government has destroyed our asylum system. We’ll inherit a mess if we are privileged to win the next election.”
When pressed if that meant Labour would continue to use the barges to house asylum seekers, Kinnock said: “The reality is, on day one we will have to deal with the we have and the shambolic mess they have left us. We’ll be left with no choice but to deal with the mess we inherit.”
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Aug 2023
10:06am, 12 Aug 2023
30,763 posts
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Johnny Blaze
He told BBC Breakfast that he was confident a Labour government could get on top of the backlog within six months.
The shadow minister refused to give a timeline on when a Labour government would stop using the barges and bring down the backlog from a record high of more than 172,000 cases.
Kinnock’s comments came as the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, said checks were still taking place on a controversial barge designed to house asylum seekers, with the first group due to be housed there within “weeks”.
Glad to clear that one up.
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Aug 2023
10:17am, 12 Aug 2023
15,293 posts
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jda
He told BBC Breakfast that he was confident a Labour government could get on top of the backlog within six months.
The shadow minister refused to give a timeline on when a Labour government would stop using the barges and bring down the backlog
Clear as day.
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Aug 2023
10:35am, 12 Aug 2023
30,764 posts
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Johnny Blaze
If you move into a property which the previous tenant has trashed, the first job is to fix the mess. It wont fix itself, it wont happen overnight and it will take time and money.
It’s very clear what Labour’s intent is and it’s far from “continuing the policy but more efficiently” as you seem to be suggesting.
What isn’t clear is how long it will take to clean up the mess because they aren’t dealing with the situation today; they are dealing with whatever the situation is in a year’s time. That’s just prudence.
I don’t think using every piece of Tory incompetence and cruelty as a stick to beat Labour with is a very productive line of “reasoning”.
Particularly when the stick is an imaginary stick which a quick Google would reveal.
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Aug 2023
11:02am, 12 Aug 2023
2,685 posts
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Canute
Over a decade ago, when a minor part of my clinical responsibilities included performing mental health assessments of asylum seekers, most of the people I assessed were living in the community, with the requirement to report regularly to the police. Although living relatively unconstrained in the community was preferable to being interned on a barge, it was clear that being left in limbo and unable to get on which life while awaiting a decision, was in itself very stressful. I therefore consider that Labour’s aim ‘to get on top of the back-log’ within 6 months (via such means a appointing more officials capable of reaching decisions in asylum cases) should not be undervalued – though it will not be easy to achieve.
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Aug 2023
11:34am, 12 Aug 2023
30,765 posts
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Johnny Blaze
Precisely. If there is a huge backlog, including people on barges, Labour really need to get their arms around the numbers and the problems involved before rolling out solutions. It will take people and money and a raft of other stuff. They won’t have access to any of that until they win an election, so why set up hostages to fortune now.
I don’t envy their job, but I like to think they will tackle it with a good deal more empathy and with more of a problem-solving mindset than the Tories, who just career from one disaster to another, whipping up refugees as a political wedge issue all the while.
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Aug 2023
12:03pm, 12 Aug 2023
42,170 posts
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SPR
It's not just about the barges, it's about the political system's (and the population's) attitude towards asylum seekers and immigrants. There's a general they are a problem because they are here.
Labour could say for example, we don't like the barge (which basically does nothing btw, it's just signaling by the Tories to their hardcore supporters), therefore we will spend more money to house the asylum seekers properly while we clear the backlog. They won't because they don't think that's a palatable message to the nation (again I'm not saying they are wrong about that, that's TBD, but if they aren't, it's pretty sad).
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Aug 2023
12:04pm, 12 Aug 2023
47,485 posts
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HappyG(rrr)
Agree Canute - it's better for the refugees, for the community and for the efficiency for the service and for the country. Also, if the legal routes for application are improved and application processing soed up, thst slso takes away the demand for the people trafficking services.
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Aug 2023
12:04pm, 12 Aug 2023
42,171 posts
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SPR
Actually is the barge even cost effective? Wouldn't surprise me if they are spending more to look tough.
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Fantasy General Election
Jul 2024
