The invasion continues 

BBC Radio 4 has become almost unbearable in the early mornings up to 9am. Thereafter, I have no idea how bearable it actually is these days, as I never listen to it. The radio in our bathroom is permanently tuned to Radio 4 and, since that is where it was tuned when my grandfather died and I inherited it, I leave it there. So, I get a brief blast from Wokeminster Central each day while I am shaving and that’s it. Tuesday’s blast was during Yesterday in Parliament, and I could hardly believe what I was hearing. The government was under pressure for the way it was treating illegal immigrants in processing centres and, concomitantly, government ministers were putting on sackcloth and ashes and promising to do better.

Monday afternoon’s debate was on Asylum Seekers Accommodation and Safeguarding. These may or may not be asylum seekers, but they are certainly illegal immigrants who have tried to bypass the proper channels for seeking asylum. In the process, by jamming up the works of the asylum system, they jeopardise the opportunities of those seeking sanctuary who are genuine asylum seekers trying to claim asylum legally. These, of course, are welcome in our country.

The only words of sense in the debate came from Conservative MP for Ashfield Lee Anderson who said: ‘Now then. When I hear talk of sourcing housing and getting extra hotel spaces for illegal immigrants, it leaves a bitter taste in my throat. Five thousand people in Ashfield want to secure council housing but cannot get it, yet we are debating this nonsense once again. When are we going to stop blaming the French, the European convention on human rights and the lefty lawyers? The blame lies in this place right now. When are we going to grow a backbone and do the right thing by sending them straight back the same day?’

I must say that those are my sentiments entirely. These people were not asked to come here; those who brought their children with them were acting irresponsibly and, while the children should be provided with all the care we can give them, we did not consign them to life in a processing centre, their parents did. The fact that the processing centres are overflowing, and progress is slow because so many of them keep coming and we do next to nothing…no, let me revise that…absolutely nothing to stop them. We focus on the plight of children but over 90% of the people arriving on boats from safe countries are young men.

Our new, for the second time, Home Secretary Suella Braverman was much pilloried for describing what is happening on our south eastern beaches as an ‘invasion’. But it is an invasion. How else do we describe the arrival of thousands of uninvited people who are arriving daily and illegally, coming to use our diminishing resources (some of whom demonstrably become involved in crime and terrorism), whose values are not our values and who lie about their age, their religion and their sexuality all in an effort to remain in our country?

Instead, every boat load of brain surgeons from war torn Albania is greeted with blankets, warm tea and, if their luck is out, a room in a Premier Inn. The lucky ones are sent to a Holiday Inn. The Law of the Sea makes it impossible for either the French or British Navy to intervene in a way that would endanger their lives at sea, and I am not suggesting we machine gun them as they step on to our beaches. But anyone arriving illegally on our shores must face a realistic prospect of being returned, at least to the country from which they left for our shores. Those who remain must be held securely until their identity and circumstances can be verified. Otherwise, the invasion will continue.

Roger Watson is a retired academic, editor and writer. He is a columnist with Unity News Network and writes regularly for a range of conservative journals including The Salisbury Review and The European Conservative. He has travelled and worked extensively in the Far East and the Middle East. He lives in Kingston upon Hull, UK.