Thread by @YvetteCooperMP

Apparently it’s the Conservatives’ ‘Small Boats Week’, so before we get more empty pledges, gimmick announcements that go nowhere, ramped up rhetoric and false claims of progress in tackling their chaos, let’s take a look at their record 👇🏼

1/ Their policies aren’t working & Tory boats chaos has got worse. 4yrs ago Ministers promised to end crossings in 6 months, but number is up twentyfold since then. In Jan, Rishi Sunak pledged to “stop the boats” - but crossings in June/July were even higher than last year

2/ Criminal gangs are being let off. Annual profits of people smugglers have soared from £1m 4 yrs ago to nearer £200m today yet convictions are down 36% on 2010.

Labour has time & again proposed stronger actions to crack down on gangs but Tories have repeatedly voted against

3/ The asylum backlog is growing. In December, Rishi Sunak pledged to abolish the backlog of initial decisions by the end of 2023. Yet decisions are still almost 9,000 lower than 2015 & the backlog has soared to a record 173,000

4/ Asylum decisions are falling. The Government has been artificially withdrawing asylum claims to get the backlog down, but total asylum decisions minus withdrawals are down by 18% quarter-to-quarter since December

5/ Caseworker numbers are down. The PM pledged to double the number of asylum caseworkers to 2500, but since then the total number actually fell between January and May.

6/ Hotel use is UP. Rishi Sunak promised to end hotel use, yet the Home Office Permanent Secretary says hotel use is still going up & new hotels are still being opened. A staggering £6 million of taxpayers’ money is being spent on hotels every day due to Tory mismanagement.

7/ Costs are spiralling astronomically. Contracts have been badly managed, barges, bases & marquees are all in addition to hotels not instead & average nightly costs per person are up sixfold in five years. Home Office estimates if Tory chaos continues it will cost £11bn

8/ New laws are a con. Since Nationality & Borders Act 2022 passed, boat crossings increased & of the 24k people considered inadmissible for removal to 3rd countries, only 23 were removed.

Latest Tory law will make backlog & chaos even worse by cancelling all asylum decisions

9/ Unworkable, unethical Rwanda plan has unravelled. UK taxpayers have written £140m cheques to Rwanda - yet Govt failed to do basic checks on safe country status. Even if it gets off ground, court says it will only be a few hundred people. And it risks increasing trafficking

10/ Returns of failed asylum cases have collapsed. Instead of system which supports refugees & returns those who aren’t, returns of failed asylum seekers are down 70% since 2010, safe routes like Afghan ResettlementScheme aren’t working & aid to help refugees in regions was cut

The Tory asylum chaos is getting worse. All they do is ramp up the rhetoric & offer gimmicks instead of getting a grip. Labour has a serious plan to clear the backlog & chaos, end hotel use & tackle dangerous crossings that are undermining border security & putting lives at risk