This week Sky News has been identifying the gaps in Britain’s border defences.
As the number of small boats crossing the Channel breaks new records and European countries brace for a new wave of people fleeing Afghanistan, the issue is rising up the public consciousness once more.
Ministers are meant to be able now to deliver on their promise to take back control post Brexit. So why does it not yet feel like that to some?
The government response to this issue is being led by Home Secretary Priti Patel. Nobody would doubt her right-wing credentials, and interestingly she has had plaudits from across the political spectrum for her handling of the migration aspects of the Afghanistan crisis.
Image: Home Secretary Priti Patel talking to a refugee from Afghanistan who arrived on a evacuation flight at Heathrow Pic: AP
Her answer to the questions around Britain’s borders is the Nationality and Borders Bill currently in committee stage in the House of Commons. But does it answer the problems, many of which are caused beyond Britain’s borders?
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Italian island is migrant gateway to EU
Tom Tugendhat, Tory chair of the foreign affairs select committee told Sky News the answer is to send more Royal Navy vessels to help in the Med.
More on Asylum
“Our great strength we have with NATO allies around is that our border doesn’t start at Dover, it starts at the southern tip of Italy and Greece – working together and making sure these borders are defended and reinforced is exactly what we should be doing… but need to do more.
“Not about being kind to Italians. Its about defending ourselves further out.”
The Nationality and Borders Bill tightens the penalties for people smugglers in an attempt to tackle the problem.
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Tracking migrants with French Border Police
Another issue comes when migrants who have made it to the EU then try and cross the Channel to Britain. Sky News’ Michelle Clifford found that while French authorities would stop anyone still on land who looked like they would be attempting to cross the Channel, they would not stop boats once they were in the water, even when it was under French control.
They blame international law, thought many in Britain including MPs on the home affairs select committee claim the French are wrongly interpreting this.
Tim Loughton, Tory member of the home affairs select committee, said the French interpretation was “completely wrong”.
He added “We have evidence from maritime international lawyers – they made it clear that French authorities have power to intercept and repatriate passengers on boats, but actually have an obligation under international law – people on boats guilty of trying to enter UK illegally and paying organised crime to facilitate that journey, that would give grounds to French authorities to apprehend people, that is only what is going to stop that horrendous trade – people paying money to people smugglers, highly likely with them being taking back…that could stop that miserable trade stone dead.”
Asked why the British government hasn’t succeeded in convincing French they’re wrong, he said: “It’s all excuses, we made it clear – French claiming it’s a different interpretation, that’s wrong – also internal politics going on, a big row with those who run Calais and the federal government. They’re each trying to make it each other’s problem.”
The Nationality and Borders Bill will mark a serious attempt to block illegal immigration, alongside the new post Brexit points based entry system.
It will make it easier to return some illegal asylum seekers more quickly, make some asylum seekers apply before they reach UK shores and give border officials powers to turn back boats in UK waters.
But this does not – and cannot – stop Britain being an attractive country for economic migrants and asylum seekers.
Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migration Watch said that Britain would remain a country many aspire to live in so more had to be done to turn back illegal arrivals.
“Britain is an attractive country, so is France, US – most people wanted to got to the US first, we are part of wider picture of prosperous civilised fun countries.
“A lot of those coming are young man who want a better life – we are part of the story, in a way we have create the opportunity for a lot of Afghans to want to come here.”
But he added that once here, many were treated generously with little chance of being sent back.
“One of the principle reasons why the traffickers are able to sell Britain as the destination of choice is that having arrived here there’s very little chance of being sent back – very few people who apply for asylum and fail actually are sent back.
“That is a huge factor, while they’re here, we look after – hotels, detention centres that have been used – even these are not bad accommodations, there is a bit of money given for people to spend.
“Once you’re in the system you’re looked after – people see messages coming across, it is all made to be very attractive.”
Rachel Reeves has told Sky News she is looking at both tax rises and spending cuts in the budget, in her first interview since being briefed on the scale of the fiscal black hole she faces.
“Of course, we’re looking at tax and spending as well,” the chancellor said when asked how she would deal with the country’s economic challenges in her 26 November statement.
Ms Reeves was shown the first draft of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) report, revealing the size of the black hole she must fill next month, on Friday 3 October.
She has never previously publicly confirmed tax rises are on the cards in the budget, going out of her way to avoid mentioning tax in interviews two weeks ago.
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12:04
Chancellor pledges not to raise VAT
Cabinet ministers had previously indicated they did not expect future spending cuts would be used to ensure the chancellor met her fiscal rules.
Ms Reeves also responded to questions about whether the economy was in a “doom loop” of annual tax rises to fill annual black holes. She appeared to concede she is trapped in such a loop.
Asked if she could promise she won’t allow the economy to get stuck in a doom loop cycle, Ms Reeves replied: “Nobody wants that cycle to end more than I do.”
Ms Reeves is expected to have to find up to £30bn at the budget to balance the books, after a U-turn on winter fuel and welfare reforms and a big productivity downgrade by the OBR, which means Britain is expected to earn less in future than previously predicted.
Yesterday, the IMF upgraded UK growth projections by 0.1 percentage points to 1.3% of GDP this year – but also trimmed its forecast by 0.1% next year, also putting it at 1.3%.
The UK growth prospects are 0.4 percentage points worse off than the IMF’s projects last autumn. The 1.3% GDP growth would be the second-fastest in the G7, behind the US.
Last night, the chancellor arrived in Washington for the annual IMF and World Bank conference.
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9:43
The big issues facing the UK economy
‘I won’t duck challenges’
In her Sky News interview, Ms Reeves said multiple challenges meant there was a fresh need to balance the books.
“I was really clear during the general election campaign – and we discussed this many times – that I would always make sure the numbers add up,” she said.
“Challenges are being thrown our way – whether that is the geopolitical uncertainties, the conflicts around the world, the increased tariffs and barriers to trade. And now this (OBR) review is looking at how productive our economy has been in the past and then projecting that forward.”
She was clear that relaxing the fiscal rules (the main one being that from 2029-30, the government’s day-to-day spending needs to rely on taxation alone, not borrowing) was not an option, making tax rises all but inevitable.
“I won’t duck those challenges,” she said.
“Of course, we’re looking at tax and spending as well, but the numbers will always add up with me as chancellor because we saw just three years ago what happens when a government, where the Conservatives, lost control of the public finances: inflation and interest rates went through the roof.”
Image: Pic: PA
Blame it on the B word?
Ms Reeves also lay responsibility for the scale of the black hole she’s facing at Brexit, along with austerity and the mini-budget.
This could risk a confrontation with the party’s own voters – one in five (19%) Leave voters backed Labour at the last election, playing a big role in assuring the party’s landslide victory.
The chancellor said: “Austerity, Brexit, and the ongoing impact of Liz Truss’s mini-budget, all of those things have weighed heavily on the UK economy.
“Already, people thought that the UK economy would be 4% smaller because of Brexit.
“Now, of course, we are undoing some of that damage by the deal that we did with the EU earlier this year on food and farming, goods moving between us and the continent, on energy and electricity trading, on an ambitious youth mobility scheme, but there is no doubting that the impact of Brexit is severe and long-lasting.”
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