When you complain about immigrants, do you mean only illegal immigrants, or do you include asylum seekers as well?
EDIT : To clarify
Based on the latest data for 2024 (calendar year):
Total small boat arrivals: Approximately 36,649
Total who claimed asylum: Approximately 34,816
Number of illegal migrants entering on small boats: Approximately 1,832
Major spending on "stopping the boats":
Rwanda scheme: £715 million spent in total (2022-June 2024), which resulted in just 4 voluntary relocations. The plan was to spend £10 billion total if it had continued.
Breakdown:
£290 million paid to Rwanda government
£50 million on flights that never took off
£95 million on detention/reception centres
£280 million on IT systems, legal costs, staffing
Other border security spending:
£3.5 billion in contracts to private firms (2017-2024) for surveillance, detention facilities, escorts, etc.
£280 million per year for new Border Security Command (replacing Rwanda scheme)
so billions is spent on stopping under 2000 people a year coming in. I would rather fund the NHS, at least those 2000 people would have a job then and contribute in taxes.
People being outraged at immigrants, like you are, are the ones that mean you have to pay half your income in taxes. You are your own problem.
Regarding "Why didn't they stop in Germany or France?"
Because they don't have to. International law, specifically the 1951 Refugee Convention, does not require an asylum seeker to claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, but allows them to apply in any country that has signed the convention. Now, a country can declare a claim inadmissible if the person could have claimed asylum in a "safe third country" they passed through, BUT, implementing the "safe third country" rule is complex in practice. A claim might be denied if the destination country is unlikely to receive an assurance that the person will be accepted back by the third country within a reasonable timeframe BECAUSE many countries have implemented laws that make it difficult to enter the country to claim asylum, and it may not be possible to claim asylum from outside the country.
So again, the reason we have to accept asylum seekers is precisely because of people who are outraged by asylum seekers.
TL;DR you're the cause of the problem you complain about. The only real solution is to stop people leaving their original country by making it nice enough that they won't put their life at risk coming here. Like I said before.
(, Thu 23 Oct 2025, 16:08, Reply)
I'm fine with taking in asylum seekers, assuming they're legitimately seeking asylum/refuge and have gone through the proper, official procedure. Our economy would be absolutely shagged without migration - we're humiliatingly workshy as a nation, and things aren't improving in that respect.
Plus, without immigration, who's going to call me 'boss man' when I take a break from preying on drunken 20-something's on a Saturday night to buy a kebab. I fucking love it when they call me that. "What you having tonight, boss man?", makes me feel 2 inches taller :)
Edit: Your figures are for individuals claiming asylum. That isn't the number of legitimate asylum seekers, it's just the people claiming to be asylum seekers. If I remember correctly, about half of all people claiming asylum are granted asylum on first application.
(, Thu 23 Oct 2025, 16:26, Reply)
(, Thu 23 Oct 2025, 16:34, Reply)
or immigration control
(, Thu 23 Oct 2025, 19:49, Reply)
Just because you don't get something doesn't mean you weren't seeking it.
So, 1800 were not seeking asylum i.e. illegal migrants. The rest, like it or not, were in the group you say you have no problem with.
(, Thu 23 Oct 2025, 20:15, Reply)
"Hello, I'm an Asylum Seeker" does not make you an Asylum Seeker. If the Government says "We don't feel your asylum claim is legitimate", I think it's safe to say that the individual is not, in fact, an actual Asylum Seeker and is, in fact, an illegal immigrant. No?
Unless you know better than the people assigned to make these calls?
(, Fri 24 Oct 2025, 14:32, Reply)
They are going through the proper, official procedure, the legal route, just because they fail does not suddenly make them illegal.
That's like asking a woman if they will have sex with you, but because you are ugly and have no chance, the fact you asked makes you liable for criminal charges and is illegal. I hope even you can see the complete failure of logic that an unsuccessful application gives you illegal status.
Again, asking and then being refused does not make you illegal. The only illegal migrants are the ones not going through the proper, official procedure, and that's about 1800 a year. I fully agree that we should be sending failed applicants back, and any that return are then illegal migrants, but currently that total is 1.
(, Fri 24 Oct 2025, 16:31, Reply)
Arriving on a small boat after being smuggled across the Channel is proper, official procedure, is it?
Righto, then...
(, Fri 24 Oct 2025, 16:58, Reply)
Because of International law, specifically the 1951 Refugee Convention, which protects refugees regardless of how they arrive.
In practice, this means:
You can arrive by boat, plane, land
You can arrive without documents
You can't be prosecuted simply for the manner of your arrival
The Convention recognizes that people fleeing persecution often have no choice but to breach immigration rules to reach safety.
So "Arriving on a small boat after being smuggled across the Channel is proper, official procedure" according to international law.
(, Fri 24 Oct 2025, 20:41, Reply)
It may offer you certain protections under the refugee act, but those protections are there in order to protect the legitimate refugees/asylum seekers and not people trying to enter the country illegitimately.
Look, you know as well as I do that the vast majority of people arriving by small boat aren't making a bee line for the nearest immigration office or border control point. You're simply treading water with your gotchas and 'yes, buts', because you're utterly unwilling to accept that you're wrong on this one.
(, Sat 25 Oct 2025, 6:41, Reply)
I'll accept your viewpoint if you can at least do the same
(, Sat 25 Oct 2025, 11:40, Reply)