Being forced to risk your life on a dinghy crossing one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world is not a "pull factor" for people seeking asylum. That's why overall numbers are down. Those crossing have no other options. Making it harder just makes it more dangerous. #r4today
There's been a drop in number of people seeking asylum in UK. Those crossing channel are those for whom all other options have been removed. The measures being proposed, and currently implemented, merely place them at increased risk rather than act as a "deterrent". #r4today
Blocking one section of the route just makes smuggling gangs move their operations. They, shockingly, have even less regard for the lives of asylum seekers than the British government. They won't stop and people needing safety won't stop having to rely on them. 
The only way to tackle gangs is to remove need for asylum seekers to rely on them. Realistically "resettlement routes" won't do that because they cover such a limited area. There are solutions, processing applications in France for example, facilitating easier access to UK etc.
UK already took a fraction of asylum seekers that other countries do, particularly likes of France and Germany. That number dropped even more last year. The system isn't "overwhelmed" by numbers of asylum seekers. It's failing because of a culture of denialism in the Home Office.
More than 70% of asylum applications are taking more than 6 months to process. With majority of claims successful that delay appears to be the Home Office deliberately dragging its heels at times to make people "give up and move on", so they can avoid providing protection.
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