Why our immigration policy is a mess and what we need to do about it - Andrew Vine

It’s a mess, and has been for years. Tough talk by successive Home Secretaries has not translated into any sort of effective action to stem the numbers of people arriving on the south coast, or separate those in genuine need of sanctuary from economic migrants.

In Yorkshire, we’ve witnessed how inadequate and desperate ministers’ attempts have been.

The ill thought-out plan to dump large numbers of asylum seekers into a former RAF base at Linton-on-Ouse, near York, would have been laughable in its inappropriateness had it not caused such consternation in the local community before the proposal was rightly abandoned.

Ministers lurch from crisis to crisis. The uproar about overcrowding and insanitary conditions at a holding centre for immigrants at Manston, in Kent, is only the latest indication that the Government simply does not have a grip, even as more inflatables arrive on the beaches or are towed to safety by RNLI lifeboats.

Meanwhile, the Government clings to its ridiculous insistence that immigrants will be sent to Rwanda.

It has already blown £120m of taxpayers’ money on this unworkable and legally dubious project without a single person being flown out, and the chances are it will go the way of other hare-brained schemes like ordering the Navy to turn back migrant boats mid-Channel, abandoned when commanders pointed out that it would result in drownings.

This doesn’t feel like the oft-repeated Brexit promise to “take back control of the borders”, does it?

Illegal immigration has risen relentlessly in recent years, with the current Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, looking as clueless as her predecessor, Priti Patel, in doing anything about it.

The system is completely broken, both in terms of preventing or deterring illegal migrants, and dealing effectively with them once on British soil.

The public is right to be concerned about the numbers of people arriving – and who might be amongst them.

Britain’s generosity of spirit to those in genuine need is not in question – the compassion and warmth with which Ukrainian people fleeing the war in their homeland have been welcomed is proof of that.

But there is legitimate worry that the lack of effective action is allowing in people who we simply don’t want here.

Last month, the Home Affairs Select Committee heard testimony from a senior commander of cross-Channel efforts to deter illegal immigration, who said of the 12,000 Albanians arriving in the last two years, 10,000 were single adult men.

The committee was told that these men have mostly simply vanished and likely become involved in criminality including drugs, prostitution and modern-day slavery.

This is not an influx of refugees fearing for their lives. Albania is not at war, or somewhere that persecutes its people. On the contrary, it’s sold to British package-holiday tourists as safe, attractive and affordable.

A radical rethink in the Government’s approach to deterring illegal immigration is needed. Instead of railing at the French for failing to stop boats setting out into the Channel, there should be much greater focus on tackling the pull factors attracting people to Britain.

French president Emmanuel Macron was correct last year when he pointed to Britain’s vast shadow economy – worth an estimated £150bn a year – being a magnet for migrants.

Unlike in his country, with its much stricter system of identity checks, in Britain people can simply vanish into an underground world of shady jobs and cash-in-hand businesses that successive Governments have tolerated for far too long.

As long as the people running these businesses know they can get away with it, the migrants will continue to come.

It would be far more cost-effective than spending millions on non-existent flights to Rwanda for the Government to launch a programme of investigation by tax authorities, police and immigration officials to identify and shut down the dodgy businesses providing work for illegal arrivals.

It is clear that there needs to be an entirely new approach to addressing the illegal migration of those whose lives are not at risk in their home countries. The current system is failing – including failing those who deserve our sympathy and sanctuary.