Yvette Cooper might as well be standing on the beach shouting “go back” to the tide, as she wails “Smash the Gangs” to stop the migrant tide coming across The Channel.
Like King Canute, Yvette Cooper has learned simply ordering back a tide does not stop it coming in.
With migrant numbers soaring, a wave of voter anger is now surging over Labour like the incoming tide hitting a sandcastle. A solution, not a slogan, is needed, so what can be done to Stop the Boats?
The four approaches the government MUST take to deal with the migration crisis - Kevin Foster
GB News/Getty Images
Rather than copy King Canute, we must learn from Australia and Greece. Both reformed their immigration and legal systems to stop the boats approaching their shores and deal with a migration crisis. To do this there are four approaches the UK Government must take:
Reduce incentives
Reforming our laws to remove family reunion rights, provide no path to permanent settlement and restrict access to social housing for those granted temporary status having arrived in a small boat or lorry.
Those paying to be smuggled here are doing so in the expectation of being able to live permanently in the UK as a result. Removing the link between crossing The Channel and permanent residence is vital.
Disrupt
Intercepting supplies of materials to build boats, tracking the flow of criminal cash and prosecuting those involved will have some impact. Yet it is not the entire solution.
Firmer action on the French coastline, including turning migrants back to shore from coastal waters, as Belgian Coastguards do, would make a visible difference. Videos of French Coastguards watching migrants board a boat in waist deep water should not be tolerated.
Future payments to France must also be contingent on French Authorities dealing with the lawlessness in the Pas-De-Calais caused by the large numbers waiting to cross. If someone does not wish to claim asylum in France, then helping French Authorities detain and remove them home is in our interest as well.
Current government approaches are not stopping the flow of small boats across the channel.
Getty Images
Process Quickly
Quickly processing any claim made by anyone who arrives in the UK illegally is the next step.
Greece enhanced the speed of its asylum processing by using accommodation centres, not hotels, to house those claiming asylum, making interviews simpler to organise and decisions easy to serve. Greece also streamlined their rules, decision-making processes and the immigration appeals system, ensuring decisions were speedy, robust and appeal proof.
Going through each opportunity to waste time ensures a system is less able to be gamed by those seeking to frustrate any application of the rules.
Deport
Immigration law only works if there is a penalty for its breach.
Activist judges have issued logic defying rulings to frustrate removals. Leaving the ECHR will stop much of this nonsense, but this will be only part of the battle to remove those with no right to be here.
Too many nations refuse to accept returns of their own citizens or are slow to deal with any requests made. They must face consequences for doing so, including visa bans, cancelling of foreign aid and tariffs.
Like Australia we also need a 3rd country agreement where we can remove those who cannot be sent back to France or home (Eg Syria) to ensure we break the business model of the people smuggling gangs once and for all.
It's possible to end the Small Boats Crisis, but only if the Government makes it the number 1 priority and is prepared to use all the tools at its disposal, from law enforcement to withdrawal from outdated international agreements.
If not, then their strategy will. like King Canute, simply be swept away by the tide.
