How to stop the small boats immediately

The main political beneficiary of the refugee problem is the hard right. Yet the problem could be solved overnight.

(None of my essays are written or assisted in any way by AI [Articial Idiocy])

Refugees, some from war-torn countries, others escaping persecution or torture, are willing to risk their lives to get to the UK in unseaworthy rubber dinghies. Some die in the attempt. Others end up in detention centres, waiting years for a decision on their asylum applications.

As they are not allowed to work, they hang around seaside towns, or around the cheap hotels where they are sent at public expense, with nothing to do, causing resentment and suspicion in local communities.

Those who stand to gain are: first, the gangs that take money from desperate people, sometimes sending them to their deaths; second, the extreme right in this country, who wish to stir up racial hatred and divide what is and should be a mostly peaceful multicultural society.

Here is a solution so obvious it is hard to understand why it has not already been implemented.

How do you ‘smash the gangs,’ as politicians of various colours like to put it (it makes them sound tough)? As long as there is demand, there will be supply.

Take away the demand.

Set up an office in Calais, staffed by civil servants and interpreters (the infrastructure for phone interpreters already exists in the UK legal and health services). Inform asylum seekers in the camps that the only way their asylum claims will be heard is through the Calais office, and that this will be done fairly and in a reasonable timescale.

This would immediately remove the market for illegal crossings, and the small boats gangs would go out of business, thus freeing up French police and UK coastguard time.

If properly accommodated across the UK, relieving the burden on the places where asylum seekers are currently housed, there is no reason anyone should feel swamped or threatened by them. Legitimate asylum seekers will in many cases be able to be housed with relatives already in the UK.

Most asylum seekers are legitimate, and their suffering should not be further prolonged. Also there are many jobs for them to fill. Some of them will be skilled workers, professionals which this country needs; others will help to fill the many vacancies in the care sector and in agriculture. It has been shown that immigrants are a net positive for the UK economy. Every mouth comes with two hands.

Those who do not qualify for asylum can be returned to their country of origin or other safe place, meaning the camps at Calais can be much smaller or even closed down. The prospect of this would no doubt encourage the French authorities to co-operate with this plan.

Of course this will come with some additional costs, likely offset by reduced costs in policing, coastguard, and hotel bills, and by the net positive contributions to the economy that have been shown to result from controlled migration.

It would take the wind out of the sails of the proto-fascists now threatening our country, and it would put proper British values of tolerance, fairness, and dare I say it, kindness, back in action.

…

I have written to my MP Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat, Twickenham) along these lines, on 3 March 2026. The reply so far is as follows:

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

I have written to Mike Tapp, MP, Minister for Migration on your behalf.

I will send you the reply once received.”