No amount of money will prevent crossings. End of the day, smugglers and traffickers just move further down the coast, making journeys longer and more dangerous. It isn't illegal to cross the channel, but it is illegal to penalise them for doing so. #r4today
There are a multitude of reasons people may feel safer in UK than France, language, family connections, not being routinely attacked by police officers. For many asylum seekers though they don't know where they will end up, and making crossings more dangerous doesn't change that.
The UK spends close to £400 million on immigration enforcement, liable to continue to rise. At a time when we are talking about "social care cost" and more that money would be better served being invested into the country, rather than into trying to keep people out.
"them" = asylum seekers, as opposed to gangs. We all want them tackling, it just won't happen by forcing more people to use them while they wrack up prices due to routes being longer. It happens by making UK asylum system more accessible, not less.
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