Barely a day goes by without Rishi Sunak’s UK government announcing yet another foolproof means of halting the tide of small boats bearing the homeless, tempest-tossed to Dover, yearning to be free whilst perched upon the decks of UK Border Force patrol boats sent into French waters with the express purpose of collecting them from the grateful Gauls.

More than 29,000 migrants crossed the Channel by small boat in 2023, the second highest annual figure on record.

Of course, if no new wheeze has been dreamt up in Downing Street overnight, an old one can always be re-hashed.

Rish Sunak, in a speech on March 7th, 2023, declared

“People must know that if they come here illegally it will result in their detention and swift removal.

“Once this happens – and they know it will happen – they will not come, and the boats will stop.

“That is why today we are introducing legislation to make clear that if you come here illegally you can’t claim asylum…

“…you can’t benefit from our modern slavery protections…

“….you can’t make spurious human rights claims…

“…and you can’t stay.”

Strong words indeed, and backed up with the threat “We will detain those who come here illegally and then remove them in weeks, either to their own country if it is safe to do so, or to a safe third country like Rwanda.”

Then why, against this backdrop of Churchillian resolve, is the UK government planning – quietly behind the scenes – to open a new National Reception Centre in Manston, Kent, which will be operational for 6-10 years at least?

The Home Office itself explains:

“The purpose of the Disembarkation and SOLAS centre at Western Jet Foil and the National Reception Centre at Manston are to register and process individuals arriving in the UK on small boats from across the English Channel.

“The aim of these centres is to provide a safe and secure environment,” – Home Office tender, Procurement reference CF-0352100D58000000L5A4EAK.

The estimated value of the contract excluding VAT is £700m (excluding the inevitable extensions, of course).

As well as providing medical services at the point of entry, amongst the other responsibilities of the contractor will include escorting the new arrivals around the local area, and sitting with them should they find themselves in hospital.

How does all this tie in with promises to stop the boats arriving in the first place?

The tender states that the project is not suitable for small to medium enterprises (SMEs) or for voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs).

It doesn’t actually say “suitable for SERCO” of course, but we can probably guess where this £700 million+ might go.

SERCO, with its strong connections with the Conservative Party (the guys who say they are going to stop the migrants arriving in the first place), has had something of a chequered past in this sector.

Figures relating to the first quarter of 2023, revealed that numerous issues were identified with Serco’s contract to provide asylum accommodation and support services, and indeed other highly lucrative contracts.

“With the state increasing to an almost unprecedented size, government seems unable to focus on what really matters to taxpayers.

“Whitehall must ensure that it gets a grip on these contracts and brings key indicators back into line with expectations,” said John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance.

SERCO has previously been fined £6.8 million for failings in its provision of care for “asylum seekers,” as the predominantly unacompanied males of military age are called.

Also, in 2019 SERCO was fined £19.2m for fraud and false accounting over its electronic tagging service for the Ministry of Justice.

In 2023 SERCO was fined £2.25 million for health and safety failings following the death of custody officer Lorraine Barwell.

SERCO was also behind the controversial Test and Trace service during the COVID pandemic. The relevant contracts – worth £600million – were never subject to any competitive tender process. Disgraceful, but the Tories always look after their own, it seems.

From 2014-23 the CEO of SERCO was Rupert Soames, the grandson of the late Sir Winston Churchill.

During his eight years at the helm he personally earned some £30 million.

Sunak halves hotel closures:

The Times, January 8th 2024.

It is not just hotels and accommodation centres that are housing illegal migrants. In September 2023 it was reported that illegals were being imprisoned in British jails – at UK taxpayers expense – for offences committed in France!

Even those not entitled to refugee status are welcome to stay:

Although they have no legal reason to claim refugee status in the UK, the number of Turkish migrants arriving in Britain on small boats across the Channel has trebled in the past year, an analysis of official figures shows..

In August 2023 the UK announced a deal with Turkey aimed at disrupting smuggling gangs organising small boat Channel crossings.

The Home Office said UK and Turkish law enforcement officers will “step up joint operations” in an attempt to disrupt the supply of boat parts and other materials used by asylum seekers to make the journey to England.

It is not known if the deal cost the UK taxpayer anything like the £40.4 million (€46.5 million) that Rishi Sunak gave the French to police their beaches and stop the migrants launching their dinghies under what is known as the Sandhurst Treaty.

Much of that money was used to police France’s border with Italy, and to purchase appliances such as microwaves, vacuum cleaners for cars, and car adapters for charging devices, according to Politico.

Politico also report that “a total of £130,383 (€150,000) was used to set up a horse brigade in the baie de Somme, buying riding boots, helmets and care for the horses, with annual operating costs of £26,000 (€30,000 euros).”

The UK Government intends to allocate a further €540.3 million to France for the same purpose between now and 2026, Politico have reported.

It has also been reported that the Home Office may have “mistakenly” allowed thousands of foreign nationals to live in Britain.

In a startling Home Office “error”, an unknown number of immigrants have been given a passport stamp that appears to grant them the right to live here indefinitely.

Even criminals are allowed to stay if they “forget” how to speak their native language:

Clirim Kukaj.

The Daily Mail carried a story on an illegal migrant, Clirim Kukaj, aged 30.

He was jailed over his involvement in a cannabis farm worth half a million pounds, being granted permission to stay in the UK after successfully arguing he could not be deported as he no longer spoke his native language.

Kukaj is ethnically Albanian but was born and brought up in Serbia until at the age of 13 he entered Britain illegally.

Seven years later he was granted indefinite leave to remain.

Better to arrive by small boat.

According to the Migration Observatory at Oxford University those arriving in the UK by small boat have a higher than average chance of receiving asylum. “The grant rate for people arriving in small boats to date has been higher than the average grant rate for all asylum applications, although this could change over time as more applications are processed.

“In the year to March 2023, 74% (14,607) of all decisions (19,706) on asylum applications were grants of refugee status or other permission to stay.”

Between 2018 and March 2023, 99% of all Syrians and Eritreans to arrive illegally by boat were granted asylum.

Of the 1,538 Syrian applicants, only 20 were refused.

Of the 2,462 Ertirean applicants, only 26 were refused.

Of the 680 Albanian applicants, none were granted asylum.

Illegals being granted asylum however does not necessarily mean they were deported; an application is deemed “closed” if the applicant simply drops off the Home Office’s radar and vanishes into the black economy.

Remember Rishi Sunak’s words “People must know that if they come here illegally it will result in their detention and swift removal’?

How empty those words have now proven to be. How empty Rishi Sunak himself has now been proven to be.

And how much money will the likes of SERCO continue to make as long as this state of affairs is allowed – indeed, it would appear, encouraged at UK government level – to continue?

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Read also: The Failure of Immigration Policy in the United Kingdom – what to do?

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