More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Rarely do politicians unveil new policies on asylum seekers and immigration without the use of phrases such as "crackdown" or "tough new measures"or "radical".
Priti Patel became the latest Home Secretary to set out a range of measures she insisted would set the UK on course to get control of illegal immigration this week.
As ever, politicians making policy on immigration have to strike a balance between acting tough and compassion for those in peril; Priti Patel has chosen to come down on the side of those who want the UK to be rather less easy to enter than it presently is and to exact rather more serious punishment on those responsible for bringing asylum seekers in.
The new laws are consequently more authoritarian and not just in tone.
Under the proposals, immigration officials would be able to arrest people on boats or dinghies once they had reached our territorial waters; not only that but they would be permitted to board boats and to take them anywhere in the UK or elsewhere.
One particular clause that has drawn attention is that helping people reach the UK will be a criminal offence, even if it is not for gain - something that has led to speculation that lifeboats or other vessels could be in breach of the law if they pick up potential asylum seekers.
The Home Office has insisted this part of the proposed legislation will not apply to those who act to rescue people on a humanitarian basis.
The planned crackdown also opens the way to boats being effectively turned round and redirected back to where they came from - if that was a country where they could have legitimately come from.
On paper, this looks like an overhaul that tilts towards those who want control of our borders to actually mean something.
The paradox is that since Brexit, the government supposedly did get control but has found it rather more challenging when it comes to how to deal with the numbers of people risking their lives to cross the Channel and claim asylum.
Even Nigel Farage has questioned whether the government can do what it says it will, saying that he doubts if tougher sentencing can be introduced without breaching existing human rights legislation.
Asked what the alternative was, he said: “What is the solution? Well it is not to believe anything Priti Patel says - like ‘we will put them in prison for four years’. Really? We haven't got the space in prisons and The Human Rights act would never allow it.”
The Bill also appears to suggest that when it comes to accommodation, the government intends to use places like former Napier Barracks - despite the widespread condemnation of the conditions.
Whether these hard-line plans will win over the support of MPs remains to be seen. They may not sit easily with those who believe that the government is already less tolerant of refugees than is necessary and is pandering to the right wing of the party.
Southgate for PM?
In politics, there are few leaders who enjoy universal support among voters for prolonged periods and, as is often said, most careers usually end in failure or some controversy or other.
Perhaps they should take a few notes from the England football manager Gareth Southgate, who is riding the crest of a wave that has taken the England team to the final of the European Championships.
Even if England is defeated he will be treated as a folk hero even among people who don't follow football.
There’s a lesson to be learned for politicians of all stripes but in the Palace of Westminster, where alpha males lock horns constantly, there’s a suspicion they haven’t much time for decency, humility and courtesy.
"Even if England is defeated he will be treated as a folk hero even among people who don't follow football..."
How ironic that footballers who are often decried for being overpaid and interested only in fast cars and nightclubs are suddenly a role model for politician.
Talking of which, the Prime Minister tried - and failed - to convince us that when it came to the national game he is just a regular bloke. He appeared at Wembley for the crunch match sporting an England shirt, bearing the word ‘Boris’ and the number 10 on the back.
Rather incongruously, he’d decided to put the shirt on over his suit jacket, making himself even more rotund and drawing unflattering comparisons with the Tellytubbies.
He’d earlier posted an image of himself wearing the shirt on Twitter, inevitably triggering a frenzy of activity as the photo was manipulated in less than complementary ways.
Still, at least it wasn’t quite as painful as the leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg offering his own unique take on the rap originally done by John Barnes in the song “World in Motion.”
It’s the stuff of nightmares.
Dover
There was a smidgeon of political spin around the ‘confirmation’ of plans to expand the Dover Port Health Authority this week, with the county council welcoming the government’s planned investment - saying that it would, along with another Inland Border Facility at some as yet to be identified location, provide a huge boost to jobs.
A big chunk of the investment was actually first announced in February when the leader of Dover Council Trevor Bartlett ‘welcomed’ the fact that it had “received £4.3m from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).”
At the time, Dover council leader Cllr Trevor Bartlett said: “It’s great to have some good news on the jobs front at a time when many local people are facing uncertainty as a result of the pandemic.”
This good news was up-graded to “excellent news” by KCC after the government “shared” its confirmation of the investment.
