Port

Even at a time when politicians desperate for your vote will say pretty much any old shit, James Brokenshire's comments on migrants* risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean Sea in leaky boats were pretty special. In case you missed it, he asserted that tighter UK immigration policy would put people off attempting this perilous crossing. I was instantly intrigued to know how many people scrutinise UK migration policy before fleeing war and poverty in their own country to attempt a journey of thousands of miles. I guess they probably go online and check the immigration or asylum policies of all the countries in which they may attempt to seek refuge before starting their journey, see the UK policy and think "that place looks really easy to get into, which is good because otherwise I don't know why I'd leave this war torn hellhole." 

A few days later a survivor of a sunken ship off the coast of Greece - a refugee from the conflict in Syria - offered her own way of stopping the flow of people attempting to get into Europe: "stop the war in Syria". This may come as a surprise to the James Brokenshires of this world, but what actually motivates most people to flee their country of birth and come to Europe is not the promise of endless free benefits (many of them probably have no concept of a welfare state) but the desire not to die. 

So when we ask ourselves what would stop people from other countries trying to come here, the clear answer is: making life bearable in their home country. So next time a politician claims they're going to reduce immigration in this country, you can check that they're talking about increasing the overseas aid budget. 

Of course they won't mean that, they'll mean wasting more of your taxes on the process of shipping people back to their ravaged countries, so they can try and make the journey all over again. For some reason the rhetoric of wasting massive amounts of resources not solving a problem at all plays well with a certain type of voter. Presumably the same sort of voter who likes their mechanic to fix their car's engine by repeatedly changing the tires. So you can look forward to much more tough sounding and utterly ineffectual rhetoric from the likes of James Brokenshire over the coming weeks, because it's apparently what you want. Enjoy. 

* I notice we've stopped even calling them 'asylum seekers', which was the term adopted when it was decided that 'refugee' made them sound too justified in attempting to come to our country. 'Migrant' sounds much better, as implies choice rather than compulsion based on survival.