Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

Tory MP Edward Leigh's views on the "migrant crisis":

“We told the people at the referendum we would 'take back control', it’s clear that in this we have lost control.. Will the home secretary bring in emergency powers act to override the Human Rights Act if necessary?"

Edward Leigh is a typical old-school-out-of-touch free-market fundamentalist Thatcherite dinosaur. He needs constantly appeasing, believes in "free enterprise, deregulation, low taxation & a smaller state”, & supports replacing the #NHS with an insurance based system.

#NHSBill

Edward Leigh signed the letter from the so-called "common sense group" of fossilised Tory MPs, which accused the National Trust of being "coloured by cultural Marxist dogma". 'Cultural Marxism' is the antisemitic conspiracy theory cited by far-right terrorist Anders Breivik.

One of only 8 MPs still in Parliament from the 1983 intake, in 1993 John Major famously labelled three Eurosceptic rebels in his Cabinet “bastards” in the run up to the bruising Maastricht Treaty votes in 1993 - Edward Leigh claims he was only a “minor bastard”.

Leigh was President of the socially conservative Cornerstone Group, representing the views of over 40 Conservative Members of Parliament, which opposes regionalism & devolution, & authored the group's inaugural reactionary & regressive pamphlet 'Faith, Flag & Family' in 2005.

Between 2017 & 2019, Leigh tabled 125 parliamentary questions about a planned National Holocaust Memorial Centre - “really just a gimmick” - a few minutes’ walk from his London house, yet tabled just THREE written questions about his Lincolnshire constituency in the same period.

A few FACTS about the so-called "migrant crisis", which living fossil Edward Leigh MP calls "a national emergency":

1 Despite the increasing numbers of small boat arrivals, the UK continues to see far fewer boat arrivals and asylum claims than many of its European counterparts.

2 More than 23,000 people have arrived in the UK this year in small boats, almost three times 2020’s total of about 8,500. But the overall number of arrivals is still relatively modes - the number of UK asylum applications nearly 20 years ago reached 84,132.

3 UK Govt research contradicts "pull factor" arguments: asylum seekers "are guided more by agents, the presence or absence of family & friends, language & perceived cultural affinities than by scrutiny of asylum policies or rational evaluation of the welfare benefits on offer.”

4 Priti Patel's claim that people crossing the Channel “are not genuine asylum seekers” & 'are only making the journey to live in UK hotels', is unsupported by the evidence: 98% of arrivals apply for asylum & earlier this year, 63% of those applying were granted protection.

5 Human rights & anti-slavery groups warn that Patel’s borders bill will result in “catastrophic” consequences for victims of human trafficking. Designed to address concerns about asylum, the bill's provisions will also make sweeping changes to the way modern slavery is tackled.

As the divisive, incompetent, irresponsible unhinged Tories lurch even further to the right in their grotesque parody of a functional democratic party, drunk on power & mired in corruption, sleaze & cronyism, remember that fewer than 3 in 10 of the electorate voted Tory in 2019.