‘Time is running out’ - Campaign for an Independent Britain

The country is on the brink of an existential crisis. We have been saying for months that urgent action is required to stem the flow of legal and illegal immigrants into the country if trust is ever to be restored to our system of government. Instead, we’ve been met with excuses and obfuscation from all the usual quarters.

Already the Starmer government, about a month old, appears to be hanging by a thread. Without in any way condoning the disgraceful scenes of violence taking part across the country, we all know the source of this powder-keg: it’s the knowledge that the United Kingdom is now wide open to whoever chooses to come.

What follows is the latest piece of research into the numbers of illegals now pouring into the country thanks to changes made by this government including the scrapping of the Rwanda scheme and amendments to the previous government’s Illegal Migration Act.

As ever we pay tribute to our principal research affiliate, Brexit Facts4EU for the following report and we provide a summary below with a link to the original article beneath it.

In the Labour government’s first month nearly 3,600 illegal boat migrants have entered the UK

As riots continue across the UK, the good ship Starmer sails on, relaxing immigration deterrents

Facts4EU.Org summarises the official figures and statements from Labour’s first month in office

On Sunday 04 Aug 2024 Sir Keir Starmer celebrated his first month in power, or as he might put it, “in service”. In light of the riots which have broken out on British streets in recent days, Facts4EU.Org looks at Sir Keir’s and his government’s pronouncements about immigration and ‘stopping the boats’. We compare these with the official figures for illegal migrants crossing the Channel in the same period.

In Labour’s first month in power, a further 3,595 illegal migrants have crossed the English Channel and are being housed and fed. This represents the highest number for this period since records began in 2018.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Sir Keir Starmer’s first month as Prime Minister

No. of illegal boat migrants : 3,595 in Starmer’s first month as PM
DAY 1 – Keir Starmer scrapped the Rwanda scheme
DAY 18 – Effective amnesty for 70-90,000 illegal migrants?
DAY 21 – The Bibby Stockholm – and new migrant centres to be imposed on communities

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Illegal boat migrants, year to date

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DAY 1 – Keir Starmer’s scrapping of the Rwanda scheme

On 05 July 2024 Sir Keir Starmer was invited to attend His Majesty King Charles III at Buckingham Palace. Following the results of the general election the day before, His Majesty invited Sir Keir to form a government, which he duly did.

One of the very first acts of the new Prime Minister on that day was to announce the scrapping of the Rwanda scheme. We know this had already been having a deterrent effect, from seeing the number of illegal migrants who had entered the UK and then travelling to the Republic of Ireland via Northern Ireland.

The numbers crossing the Channel had not fallen, but the number deciding that the Republic of Ireland was a safer bet reduced the numbers of those staying in the UK.

DAY 18 – Effective amnesty for 70-90,000 illegal migrants?

On 22 July 2024 in the House of Commons, new asylum arrangements were announced by Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary. Firstly she re-confirmed the announcement by the Prime Minister on his first day in office that the Rwanda scheme had been scrapped. In her statement she went on to say that a ‘Statutory Instrument’ had been put in place to negate parts of the previous government’s Illegal Migration Act. This new law is designed to introduce ‘fast-track’ decisions on asylum, in order to reduce the backlog of applications.

“First, I have informed the Rwandan Government that we will be ending the migration and economic development partnership.”

“The new Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill announced in the King’s Speech will bring in new replacement arrangements, including fast-track decisions and returns to safe countries. In the meantime, I am laying a Statutory Instrument that ends the retrospective nature of the Illegal Migration Act provisions, so that the Home Office can immediately start clearing cases from after March 2023.”

– Yvette Cooper, House of Commons, 22 Jul 2024

In practice the new arrangements will impact between 70-90,000 illegal migrants in the system. The problem with the Home Secretary’s talk of “fast-track decisions and returns to safe countries” lies in the details. Facts4EU.Org analysed the latest figures by nationality, to see how many illegal migrants might be returned whence they came.

Out of 3,180 migrants in the month of March 2024, 2,008 of them (almost two-thirds) were from countries where there is no prospect of sending them back. These include : Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Eritrea, Sudan, Iraq, South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Libya.

On top of this, many of the remaining illegal migrants are from countries which also have dubious human rights records, including : Vietnam, India, Egypt, Kuwait, Sri Lanka, Georgia, and Pakistan. Adding the migrants from these countries brings the total who are highly unlikely to be deported to 97.2%.

DAY 21 – The Bibby Stockholm – and new migrant centres imposed on communities

On 25 July 2024 the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said : “We’ve made clear that the barge will continue to be used until the end of the contract in January 2025, but our intention is to clear the backlog and reduce the huge costs we’re currently spending on asylum accommodation.” In subsequent comments Downing Street did not rule out the option of moving migrants from the Bibby Stockholm into hotels.

The new government is now looking at locations for new residential centres to be built in communities across the UK in order to house illegal migrants. As these are announced we will bring readers a new report.

We would like to thank Brexit Facts4EU.Org for their kind permission to republish highlights from this report. The original can be read in full here.