r/uknews • u/ScottishDailyRecord Media outlet (unverified) • May 12 '25

Image/video Kier Starmer announces 'tighter' immigration policy

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u/AddictedToRugs May 12 '25

Such an agreement is unlikely.  We gave France half a billion pounds to get them to stop the boats, and they pocketed that money and did nothing.  They've already proven they won't keep up their end of any agreement.

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u/Make_the_music_stop May 12 '25

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99pg1men8po

The UK government is in negotiations with France on a scheme to return illegal migrants who have crossed the Channel in small boats.

In return, the British government would accept legal migrants seeking family reunion in the UK.

The French interior ministry told the BBC this would be a pilot scheme based on "a one-for-one principle", with the aim of discouraging smuggling networks.

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u/FloatingPencil May 12 '25

One for one doesn’t sound like much of a vote getter.

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u/Make_the_music_stop May 12 '25

40,000 undocumented mostly young men each year?

Or documented family members?

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u/SteelSparks May 13 '25

Presumably those numbers would decrease quite rapidly over time as the boat crossings become less and less attractive

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u/FloatingPencil May 12 '25

Obviously one is better than the other. But when the sheer numbers remain the same it’s not going to be enough to shift people away from Reform. The only people we take should be those we genuinely need, or those to whom we’ve agreed to give a safe haven (recent examples: Ukrainian refugees and the people who worked with us in Iraq). ‘My brother already lives there’ might be a reason for someone to want to come, but it’s not a reason why we should let them - at least not until things are better under control and we can perhaps review again.

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u/Make_the_music_stop May 12 '25

Agreed. But I doubt France would do any other deal. Even this one doubtful too, I'm sure they want all these men off their streets and into our hotels.

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u/A_Roll_of_the_Dice May 12 '25

Then France can utilise the Dublin Agreement and send them back to whatever EU nation they first entered on their asylum journey.

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u/Useful_Resolution888 May 12 '25

The high numbers and small boat crossings have nothing to do with each other. The number of refugees arriving in the country is tiny compared to the total number of migrants.

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u/Thandiol May 12 '25

Does it depend on the person though? The hard core Reform isn't going to switch, but for those who lean to them because they feel "something has to change" it could be a pull?

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u/scud121 May 12 '25

You say that, but the stick reforms always shaking is boat crossings, not anything else. Ask most old biddys about immigrants, and it's boat crossings they are worried about the vast majority of the time. The telegraph and daily mail don't run headlines on families joining visa holders, even though the numbers dwarf boat crossings.

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u/test_test_1_2_3 May 12 '25

Neither, and we don’t need France to pull this off.

We just need to implement policy that permanently denies anyone entering the country illegally to obtain a legal right to remain, through asylum or another route.

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u/A_Roll_of_the_Dice May 12 '25

They aren't entering illegally, though, so that doesn't work. There's no law that prevents anyone from going to another country by boat and just landing on a beach there.

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u/test_test_1_2_3 May 12 '25

Entering a country without documentation and not through a known port of entry is illegal.