Pickwick

I agree the system needs to change but it still feels to me like immigration is being disproportionately blamed for the economic problems in the UK - this thread itself would back that up. Small business in the UK cost HMRC £36,000,000,000 a year in tax evasion. A further estimated £570,000,000,000 is held by British citizens in tax havens around the world. There's £30 million for each of your 20,000 state schools. We haven't even mentioned tax loopholes, shady tax avoidance practices by large corporations etc; nor any of the other big hitters such as benefit fraud etc. Yet compare the amount of attention the 0.15% of GNI we spend on asylum seekers gets and tell me its not disproportionate. Even Nigel Farage doesn't want to completely scrap this aid budget. He is well aware that every developed country in the world spends a small amount of their GNI on aid, and there is a wealth of information that this has overall economic benefits at the international level. There is also a wealth of evidence to suggest that if the UK left all its international obligations the cost to the British taxpayer would far exceed 0.15 of the GNI.

A real problem with the tactics of the criminal gangs bringing people into the UK (though there are obvious reasons why genuine asylum seekers might not have access to travel documents). The Home Office (under the previous Tory government) stated that at some point during the subsequent asylum process identity has to be proven or an application is failed. I can't find any reliable information as to how they do that. The situation has been made worse by Brexit and our loss of access to the Eurodac database. Tony Blair's government did pass a law trying to counter this problem twenty years ago - and entering the UK without a passport is contrary to section 2 Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004. However, prosecution under this law has dramatically decreased in the last 16 years (under both Labour and Tory governments), even after the passing of the Nationality and Borders Act (2022) - I don't know why. The French (and the Germans and Italians etc) already take in more immigrants than the UK. Previously we could - and did - return people to France but Brexit ended our participation in the Dublin Agreement and this is no longer possible. The UK and French governments - for obvious reasons - do not release operational information, but Boris Johnson's government increased funding to facilitate cooperation with the French., so I assume he had good reason for doing so. I doubt many non-Brits reading Asean Now or watching the recent news would agree with you.

I don't really understand your question. The information I based my post on is freely available. If you have conflicting data I would be happy to look at it.

No they don't. That's how they calculate net migration (for all its flaws). Can you share the data for your claim, especially for the years 1066 -1855 (the year immigration records began)?

I have no problem if you think that's too many, but not sure what you base your opinion on. The vast majority of the 10.3 million you mention work and pay taxes, own their own homes or rent privately; or are students paying high premium to UK universities; or are spouses of British citizens. Asylum seekers make up 1.7% of this number and all other refugees/stateless people (including Ukrainians etc) make up a further 2.3% (of the 10.3 million). Very few people are of the extremist view that there should be some kind of open door policy on immigration, but most are aware the UK would be in real trouble without continued (and controlled) migration, as the population ages and the work force shrinks. Unless of course you want to go down the Singaporean route and encourage people to never retire - abolishing the State Pension would save some money. I would imagine such a scenario would not be popular though, even with the mindless thugs who were rioting. Legal migrants pay the NHS surcharge to access the NHS should they fall ill (and those on work visas obviously pay taxes too).

In isolation the £8,000,000 looks almost unbelievable, though not so much when taken in context of a country with a population of 67 million people. The daily budget of the NHS is somewhere north of £525,000,000. The daily cost of universal credit is £220,000,000. The UK spends 0.15% of its GNI on asylum seekers - including the cost of hotels. I have no problem with anyone who thinks 0.15% is too high - but to blame the economic problems of the UK on it does not seem reasonable.

Hansard is the recorded transcripts of debates in Parliament. They don't tot up anything, they merely record what people said in Parliament, even if what said was not based on reality. The reply to your quote is as follows: "I was going to ask if the Immigration Minister had seriously signed off this garbage of an impact assessment, which no self-respecting Minister could possibly think was serious, but actually the nonsense he has just said is even worse and even less coherent."

Well, given previous talk on here was about the Labour councillor it would have been helpful if you had referenced that earlier. But what's your point? I have clearly - and repeatedly - said that anyone and everyone should be held accountable for what they say in public. I am not the person on this thread making excuses for anyone.

https://www.thenational.scot/news/24496394.tommy-robinson-spreads-disinformation-stabbing-scottish-city/

You are confusing a Labour MP with a Labour councillor. He will rightly face consequences for his words - we have both clearly agreed that incitement is a crime with serious consequences. I believe that applies to all people equally.

No, the example you used and I quote you directly was ' So no, it is not the same for everyone. The thugs from Manchester are not in custody'. That's exactly what I replied to.

True, my mistake. I got his misinformation the wrong way round. He said one Muslim had stabbed at least three women.

A leftist labour councillor is correctly facing consequences for what he recently said. In an earlier post about Muslim thugs you clearly pointed out that misinformation had incited them - and incitement is a serious crime. Tommy Robinson, not satisfied with misinformation about Southport, spread further misinformation by stating three Muslims had went on a stabbing spree in Stirling. It was a white Scot by the name of Callum Fisher (I haven't seen any childish memes about his non Muslim name to back that up though). I am glad you agreed that incitement has criminal consequences.

Four men were arrested for the terrible incident at Manchester Airport. They were released on bail pending further enquiries, as the initial narrative was police brutality. This narrative was subsequently changed after another video was released. Due process is now taking place. After the escalation of the initial riots it was very clearly communicated that any subsequent rioting would be dealt with quickly and harshly - this was reported by every major news outlet and was unambiguous. Some violent thugs ignored this and now have to deal with the consequences, whether they cry in court or not.

Keir Starmer visited the hospital where some of the victims were taken. It has not been reported who he did or did not meet. Perhaps not everyone is trying to make appalling political capital out of a horrific situation.

He had this meeting after visiting Alder Hey Children's Hospital where he personally thanked staff for their response to the dreadful attack.

There was an escalation in civil unrest after the appalling incident in Southport. Thugs were out on the streets causing damage to property and looting the businesses of decent citizens - and the situation looked like it could escalate further. The Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and the Chief of Police were very clear that subsequent rioting would not be tolerated, and people who continued to commit violence would be fast-tracked through the courts. This had happened after the London riots of 2011 and was seen as being effective at quelling the rioting at that time. I believe the majority of people support this action against the violent thugs on the streets, as has been evidenced in the last 48 hours. Four men were arrested after the appalling incident at Manchester airport and were bailed pending enquiries. Pending enquiries were required after the spreading of misinformation online. The original narrative was of police brutality, but this narrative changed after the release of a second video. As possible police brutality is involved the force have to follow due process.

What are you nipping in the bud? That the UK spends 0.15% of its GNI on asylum seekers? That new asylum seekers account for less than 0.1% of the population each year, yet you blame them for all of the problems in the UK. You ignore government cuts, the rising costs of living everywhere and the relative stagnation of wages. You also ignore the backlog of asylum seekers created by the previous government. I believe the majority in the UK are not so easily manipulated by the misinformation being spread and repeated ad nauseam by the usual suspects; and they are certainly not supportive of the thugs we have seen causing havoc in our streets. Nigel Farage, so often seen as the man of the people by a section of the population, was recently elected to the House of Commons. He and his Reform Party have said they would focus primarily on immigration, and they would halve the aid budget (though not scrap it). People have the democratic option to vote for him, should they believe the issue of immigration to be the cause of all our ills. I very much doubt a majority will ever vote for him but if they did most would support the democratic process. Some people on here were enraged when a milkshake was thrown over him - yet the same people are making excuses for the thugs setting fires to hotels, attacking the police and looting the businesses of hard-working, decent citizens.

In the last year of full data - 2022 - the arriving asylum seekers made up less than 0.1% of the UK population. Are you seriously suggesting that they are the main cause of hospital waiting lists getting longer? What about the lack of medical staff in the NHS? - 4000 doctors left due to Brexit alone; medical staff, including frontline nurses, feel overworked and underpaid and are leaving at an alarming rate; the population is ageing adding to the stress of the NHS; the pandemic caused huge problems; relative lack of hospital beds compared to other OECD countries etc etc etc. Much easier to blame the 0.1% though. It seems you also blame the 0.1% for the housing crisis too. Your assertion that HMOs are 'springing up everywhere' is simply not true. Since 2019 there has been a near 3% decrease of HMOs generally, with an 11% decrease in London alone. Furthermore, many British people, including (low-income) tax payers live in HMOs. House prices in the UK have historically risen - and continue to rise - well above any rise in wages, the main reason young people cannot get on the housing ladder. They will jail you if you set fire to hotels with people inside them. I believe a majority of people in the 'homeland' support this, as the last 48 hours have shown.

The percentage is real though. The money spent on asylum seekers comes from the 0.5% of the UK's GNI allocated for aid. Every developed country has an aid budget. Nigel Farage wants to cut that in half (note: he does not want it scrapped). Half would obviously still be 0.25% of the GNI (nearly double what we currently spend on asylum seekers). Millions and billions sound like big numbers - because in isolation they are. But in terms of annual spend by a major world economy they are not - you end up with percentages such as 0.15%. There's plenty of information out there about the benefits of having an aid budget (which, presumably, is why every developed country has one) and about the negative consequences if we decided to stop and ditched the international treaties we signed up to - consequences that would likely cost the British people far more than 0.15% of the GNI. Plenty of people and politicians would like us all to believe that the crumbling structures of the UK are caused by the 0.15% dent into our annual budget. Such people are the real first class citizens of the country, they're not waiting months for a hospital appointment etc., they're too busy laughing all the way to the bank.

I am glad you have pointed out that posting this type of misinformation is incitement.

Yes, I know, that was my point (though your figure is a tad inflated).

Where did you do the application? Every other report suggested a very quick turnaround when further documents were requested.

The cost of processing asylum seekers in the UK - including the use of hotels - comes to roughly 0.15% of the UK's GNI. I understand that some people believe this is 0.15% too much - but to suggest this issue is the main cause of all the financial hardships in the UK is absurd.

Have you tried turning your phone off and on? I have a back up phone with Giffgaff that is often left in a drawer. It sometimes runs out of battery and switches off. When I charge it again and switch it on I always get the 'welcome to Thailand' SMS. Might be worth a try?