We must defeat the small boat migrant ‘do-gooders’ or the Tories will never be forgiven
IT’S appalling that Britain is currently unable to effectively control and police our own borders.
I believe that deciding who enters our country is a matter of sovereignty. It’s why millions voted for Brexit.
The electorate supported our plans to take back control, not have sometimes hundreds of migrants arriving illegally on our shores on a daily basis.
So I wholeheartedly support Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s new plans to stop the dinghy crossings.
But make no mistake, if those who arrive here illegally are not deported by the plane-load then this Government will ultimately pay the price.
My constituency, Dudley North, had always been Labour before I won the seat in 2019.
And local people have been very clear to me that they want to stop the small boats arriving on our shores.
They see us as a soft touch
They say: “Marco, you’re a great local MP but it’s going to be tough for you to command our support if illegal immigration isn’t sorted out.”
It is a huge issue in my constituency.
Local people need to access social housing, schools and GPs with the cost of living rising.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman told MPs yesterday that the asylum system is costing taxpayers an outrageous £3billion a year.
Just think what we could do with that cash.
It could fund a pay rise for nurses.
Many of those who arrive by small boat are economic migrants, rather than asylum seekers.
And they are all leaving from France, a safe and rich country.
People come with no documentation.
We don’t know if they are criminals or if they pose a risk to the people of this country.
It’s a billion-pound business.
These mostly young men spend thousands of pounds getting here.
They see it as an investment for a better future in the UK.
What they are doing, though, is jumping the queue.
They’re not applying for visas to come into the country.
They see us as a soft touch.
So the people-smuggling trade has to stop, but No 10 has a fight on its hands.
The so-called “Blob” of leftie lawyers and virtue-signalling civil servants will do all they can to block the new plans.
Much of the Labour and SNP opposition say we should just keep on welcoming cross-Channel migrants with open arms.
The new plans include denying anyone who came here on a small boat the right to claim asylum.
But efforts to deport thousands who arrived by dinghy will be blocked by the hand-wringing lawyers.
Britain signed a £120million deal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, but that’s been bogged down in the courts for months.
Our well-meaning modern slavery laws have been abused by some migrants who have used them to avoid deportation.
Last year the most common nation that people seeking asylum came from was Albania, a safe country becoming popular with tourists, with almost 16,000 people making a claim.
It shows how legislation can be abused and the voters of this country just end up paying for it.
Last month it emerged a prolific criminal went on to murder a man after being taken off a deportation flight following last-minute legal challenges which were backed by celebrities and Labour MPs.
In December 2020 Ernesto Elliott, 45, was due to be flown back to Jamaica but lawyers made an 11th-hour intervention citing Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
They insisted if he was deported it would breach his right to a family life in Britain.
Just six months later Elliott, who had 17 convictions to his name, murdered 35-year-old Nathaniel Eyewu-Ago and he was later jailed for life.
Enact the will of the people
That case shows why it is important to stand up to lawyers brandishing the ECHR.
The well-meaning convention laws were drafted in the 1950s, but we live in a very different world today.
We must stand up to the ECHR over the new small-boats legislation and say we, as a country, want to democratically take this path.
This issue ultimately is about representation.
The people have voted for something.
They were very clear about it — they want us to control our borders.
We, as politicians, must enact the will of the people.
Like many, I have doubts about whether the Government’s latest plans will succeed.
We have been here before.
So I’m in “seeing is believing” territory.
The Rwanda plan is still being bounced around in the courts.
There’s nothing more the Blob would like than to tie the latest plans in legal shackles.
We must not allow this to happen or voters won’t forgive the Conservative Party.