'Tories must get to grips with asylum backlog and end the small boats nightmare'

12 August 2023 , 17:22

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Migrants arrive at the Port of Dover on an RNLI lifeboat on 10 August, 2023 (Image: Getty Images)

Another tragedy in the English Channel. Six lives lost. Rescue teams are doing an incredible job, but these dangerous boat crossings must be stopped.

Enough of the Home Secretary’s gimmicks and the Prime Minister’s press conferences, we need immediate action to tackle the criminal smuggling gangs making millions each year trafficking in human misery.

And, as the Tory’s former Home Secretary, David Davis said yesterday, it’s time this Government got to grips with the record number of people waiting for their asylum claims to be processed.

The Tories have created chaos in the asylum system and they have no workable plan to sort it out. The taxpayer is footing an extortionate hotel bill – about £5,000 a minute – to house those stuck in limbo.

Now their attempt at using barges in addition to hotels has descended into complete shambles, with delays around fire concerns, a handful of migrants moved onto the boats, then, just hours later, removed because of fears of legionella disease. I’ve never seen such a stark example of Government incompetence.

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Only Labour has a plan to get a grip. Firstly we will negotiate a new returns agreement with the EU, secondly we will get the backlog down by quickly removing those with no right to be here and ensuring genuine refugees can contribute to Britain, and third we will go after the criminal smuggling gangs, creating a new cross-border police unit, funded by scrapping the Government’s failing, pie in the sky Rwanda plan.

It’s time to end the small boats nightmare - we can’t sit by as more lives are put at risk. The country deserves better than this mess.

Stephen Kinnock