Newspaper Column – The Voice – 25/08/25
- Fewer than 5% of all migrants to the UK arrive in ‘small boats’. Those far-right politicians who seek to divert attention from mainstream issues to stoke fear about this would prefer you not to know that three quarters of these undocumented migrants have their asylum/refugee claim upheld; and that the UK receives a smaller proportion of refugees than most countries in the world.
They have no choice than to get here ‘illegally’ because most legal routes have been cut-off.
Those who protest outside hotels accommodating Asylum seekers should instead protest outside government buildings containing the people responsible for the policies. The Conservatives (who of course now criticise the policy!) has wasted over £5bn every year to fund this system. The government should allow those waiting for their claims to be determined to work and pay taxes and pay for their own accommodation.
Many of those who protest that asylum hotels accommodate some alleged sex offenders, are strong supporters of the sex offender who runs the US. Indeed, the proportion of asylum seekers accused of being sex offenders is about the same proportion (ie of sex offenders) as is found in the population from which the protestors come. Those politicians who spend most of their time in this cesspit of dog-whistle politics seem unconcerned about the irony overload.
It’s easy to mock MPs like hapless Rupert Lowe for demanding that Cornish charity rowers be apprehended as illegal migrants, but it’s an inevitable consequence for far-right politicians like him (and their many media promoters) who seize on any opportunity to bang on about small boat migration. The political and media obsession with this should be placed in perspective.
I don’t diminish the risk to life, nor play down the criminality of people smugglers, but it should be pointed out there was no ‘small boat’ problem before Brexit. Indeed, those who campaigned for Brexit failed to explain their policy has made the migration situation ‘worse’. We’ve lost much of our leverage with the very countries who could help us most to solve the difficulty, and we’re now no longer able to return asylum seekers under the EU ‘Dublin Regulation’. Though the last Tory government promised to ‘Stop the Boats’, it was in fact their policies which started them!
- I’ve always had enormous admiration for our fishing industry. It’s a tough life, but those engaged in it don’t want to leave it…
And that’s the point. Because contrary to the claims and accusations of some, the majority of those in the fishing industry want it to be MANAGED SUSTAINABLY. It’s no good to them if they boom and then bust.
I’ve held a consistent view throughout my 30+ years in national politics. It’s a view in part informed by my upbringing as someone born and brought up here in west Cornwall, with relatives in the industry and a small family fishing boat in the cove (used, in our case, more for hobby potting and handlining).
The ingredients to success are:
- For fishermen and scientists to work closely together and to build mutual respect;
- For marine biologists and conservationists to advise and work with the industry and to build a relationship of mutual respect;
- For fishermen, scientists, and conservationists to be given the power to agree on the best management regime; and
- To keep politicians out of the decision-making process as much as possible.
As I say in this interview, the last Conservative government had no interest in the industry. They were as interested in fishing as they are this week suddenly interested in hotels of asylum seekers. Only interested in using them to spin a political story and to stoke resentment.
We must make the best of the Fishing Minister we have. I find Daniel Zeichner personable, and he listens. But he’s not following through, has taken many wrong turns, and I feel he’s being overruled and ignored by the Prime Minister. Much more work to do…