Securing our borders and restoring balance and fairness to the immigration system

Do you remember when the last Government, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage et al all promised us if we voted to leave the European Union we would take back control of our borders?

The reality has been the exact opposite. They have left us with open borders. Net migration figures hit nearly 800,000 under the Conservatives and small boat crossings reached record numbers in the six months before the election.

It is important to recognise that immigration over the years has enriched our country and helped us all to prosper.  You only need to look at our local health and care system where nurses and care workers from around the world are keeping our NHS running. I put on record my thanks to them for coming here, looking after local people and making High Peak their home.

As a country we do though need to get out of the habit of looking first to immigration to solve skills gaps rather than training up our own. We need a skills strategy that makes sure we are less reliant on migration.

The concerns I hear on the doorstep are not with those coming here legally, playing by the rules and filling vital roles. It’s those entering the UK illegally, mostly in small boats, who are ‘skipping the queue’.

Until July this year, we had a government that spent hundreds of millions of pounds on unworkable gimmicks like Rwanda while failing to take action against the people smugglers and process asylum applications. People are right to be angry with the consequences.

We saw those consequences here in High Peak when the Home Office tried to convert High Peak Halls into an asylum dispersal centre despite opposition from local police, High Peak Borough Council and local people.

When the new government took over, we found a £6 billion in-year overspend on asylum costs, and £8 million a day being spent on hotels. They left a system in total chaos.

We’re now starting to fix the mess. It’s early days, but the results so far speak for themselves. We’re now making 10,000 asylum decisions per month instead of the 1,000 that were made under the Conservatives. Nearly 10,000 people with no right to be here have been removed in the first few months, a significant increase on the same period last year.

We’re also taking tough action to reduce the numbers coming here illegally in the first place. Criminal smuggling gangs have been making millions out of small boat crossings, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. Labour’s new Border Security Command is co-ordinating intelligence and enforcement agencies in the UK and working with partners overseas to disrupt the smuggling gangs’ supply chains and dismantle their criminal networks.

Our approach will save taxpayers £7 billion over the next ten years and finally restore the fairness and balance to our immigration system that people expect.