A letter to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak

A letter to the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak

Dec 2, 2022 | Bylines, News

Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE writes an open letter to PM Rishi Sunak for West England Bylines:

Dear Prime Minister,

Firstly, my apologies for not writing to you before to congratulate you on your new job. I just thought I’d better hang on for a few weeks to make sure your premiership had a longer shelf-life than your predecessor’s. So, having waited a month, big congrats! Even if you don’t last past the next election, as least you’ll have beaten Dizzy Lizzie’s short spell in office.

I appreciate you must have a great deal on your plate (what multi-millionaire doesn’t?) and that the job is probably a lot more difficult and demanding than you anticipated. Despite that, I hope you think it was worth any sacrifices you may have made. At least your wife hasn’t had to make any, and can always keep you in the style you’ve become accustomed to, no matter what happens in your political career.

With so much going wrong in the country it must be tough to choose where to focus or prioritise your attention and our money. Especially when you have those to the left of you, those to the right of you, and (if there are any) those to the far right of you telling what you absolutely must do, and right now!

Just this week alone I note that you have described relations with China as the end of a “golden era”. Relations with the USA also seem strained, though I’m pleased to see that you and Ursula von der Leyen are making positive noises. Do you know what would really, really improve relations with the EU? Getting rid of that nasty piece of legislation, the Protocol Bill. Though I do appreciate, that with so many nasty pieces of legislation to choose from, it must be difficult to know which bill to ditch first. With so many of them liable to remove rights from the public but likely to give more powers to yourself. I imagine there will be many sleepless nights ahead while the Tory Party gremlins mess with your head.

As a former Chancellor, I had rather expected that you’d have a better understanding of how the UK economy works, or should work. I have to admit, I’m not a fan of ‘Austerity 2.0’, but then I wasn’t a fan of ‘Austerity 1.0’ either. I would be much more inclined to give it a chance if the government hadn’t wasted so much taxpayers’ money on failed PPE contracts, a failed Test & Trace system, a so-called Festival of Brexit, on MPs pay rises and expenses and goodness only knows what else. The very fact that you are now planning to use my/our money to pay for your Christmas parties is just adding insult to grievous injury. Couldn’t your wife treat you all? After all, I assume she’ll be present.

I would like to offer, though, credit where’s it’s due and say thank you for avoiding the annoying habit your two predecessors were so fond of. That of governing by slogan. I am not aware of any Sunak-specific soundbites. I assume that means that there aren’t any. The alternative – that they are so bad as to have gone unnoticed – is hardly preferable.

With regards to how I might be of assistance to you, I understand you are still looking (though perhaps not very hard) for an Ethics Advisor. Despite the downgrading of any powers for the title holder, I’m sure I could offer some interesting, even radical, ideas on the way forward, and frankly, I could use the money! My paltry pension, even with the triple lock retained (thank you kindly) does not stretch far when everything has gotten so much more expensive. Yes, I know, it’s Covid, it’s Ukraine. But, it’s also the dreaded Brexit. Now when even the BBC are discussing widespread Brexit damage, surely it’s time politicians, especially those at the top, did likewise.

The main opposition leader is seemingly trying to be more Brexity than your lot, believing it will win him the next election. With so many Remainer MPs now converts to the Brexit cult, wouldn’t it be novel if a few Brexiter MPs changed their minds too? Not sure I should be pointing this out to you but you could turn public opinion in your favour if you changed tack by promising a return to the Single Market, the Customs Union or, heaven forfend, the EU itself. Of course, you would have the tall order of convincing the country that Tory promises are worth the manifesto they are written on, but I honestly think it’s worth a shot. Beat the opposition to it and get that growing number of Remainers on your side for a change.

I will leave you to ponder how to turn around the fate of your party. I would just like to hope that in the process, you, your cabinet and your government give some thought to turning around the fate of the country. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but SS Britannia is sinking fast and there’s a distinct lack of friendly neighbours willing to rush to our aid. I wish you every success in turning the ship around, and in your goal of returning the Conservative Party to power at some distant decade in the future.

In the meantime, try not to do as much damage as the last three residents of Number 10 have done, and give the nurses, postal workers, train drivers etc. a pay rise. You may think the country can’t afford to do it. In fact, it can’t afford not to.

Yours sincerely,

Sue Wilson MBE

Economic affairs committee take evidence from the governor of the Bank of England

Economic affairs committee take evidence from the governor of the Bank of England

Dec 1, 2022 | Bylines, News

The governor of the Bank of England talks through the big shocks to the UK economy and the risks to come, but gives no mention to Brexit, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for Yorkshire Bylines.

On Tuesday 29 November, the governor of the Bank of England (BoE), Andrew Bailey, gave evidence to the House of Lords economic affairs committee. The oral evidence session with the governor is an annual event and was expected to cover a number of topics, including quantitative easing, financial risks, inflation and the supply of labour, both historically and looking forward.

 

Unsurprisingly, there was little good news and lots of talk about the “scale of the external shocks that are hitting the economy”. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, the list of factors affecting the UK economy did not include Brexit. In two hours of discussion and debate, not one single mention. From anyone.

 

Not a budget

While many factors, such as the war in Ukraine and the pandemic were external contributors to the current economic situation, there were domestic factors too. The most significant of these – if you ignore the government’s general mishandling of the economy, and of course, Brexit – was the disastrous autumn mini-budget.

When committee members referred to the statement as a budget, they were corrected by the governor. It was, in fact, a “fiscal event”, not a budget. Had it been a budget, the Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) – the official fiscal watchdog – would have had to be involved. By labelling the budget a fiscal event, the OBR was left out of the loop completely. Bailey added that the “message that came across”, was that “we didn’t want the OBR involved”.

It would appear that the BoE, to a lesser extent, was also kept in the dark. When questioned about whether the bank had been fully informed in advance of the statement, and in particular, whether the bank had received “advance warning of… £46 billion of unfunded tax cuts”, Bailey responded, “we did not know what was going to be in the statement”.

Bailey said that while it was not always necessary to know all the “detailed measures” in advance, the bank would expect to be informed on “the economic impact” of any proposed policy. Many people had described the situation to him, he added, as “flying blind”. The BoE, for example, had had “no idea” that the government had plans to abolish the top rate of tax.

Bailey said there was no doubt in his mind “that Treasury officials told the BoE and me everything they knew”. There was no question of anything “being hidden”, he said. There was, however, a “lack of clarity”, even “between the former prime minister and the chancellor about what was going to be in the fiscal statement.” Which rather, Bailey said, “illustrates the problem”.

External shocks to the system

The governor spoke of the scale of the external factors affecting the economic outlook, describing them as a “very big shock to the UK’s real economy”. In particular, Bailey highlighted the scale of the shock from the energy crisis, which was seen as a “substantial risk” and which was “larger than any single year in the 1970”.

The governor spoke of what he regarded as the three biggest risks to the UK economy. The first of these – the energy price shock coming from Russia and Ukraine – he described as “reasonably stable” in terms of size and force. The second factor, and the earliest, was the post-Covid supply chain shock, which he said was “unwinding”. The third shock, which unlike the first two was heading “the other way”, was food, affected by both domestic and external factors.

 

The biggest story

According to Bailey, “the biggest story is the labour market”, which is “much more constrained” in Britain than elsewhere. Where other economies – such as the US or the Eurozone – had recovered to pre-Covid levels, the UK was lagging behind. However, Bailey claims that recruitment issues many companies have been facing are now gradually starting to ease with the ratio of vacancies to unemployment stabilising, albeit at a high level.

The BoE, said Bailey, has been saying for over a year that there was “a very big real income shock” coming and that the consequences of that blow need to be dealt with. It seemed to be widely accepted that this was due to a “change in the terms of trade”. The impact of the real income shock is one being felt by the public who, apparently, are failing to understand why they can’t be paid in line with inflation. The risk, said Bailey, is coming from second-hand effects – caused by “constraint in labour supply”, “wage-bargaining” and “price-setting” – which would require the BoE to further raise inflation.

Whatever our economic future holds, it seems clear that the British economy is not in a healthy state or, perhaps, in the safest of hands. While so many in Westminster fail to acknowledge a significant cause of our present economic situation, it’s difficult to see how our finances can or will improve.

During the course of the committee meeting, the governor at one point complained that “quite a bit of the commentary” regarding the British economy “pretends that Covid never happened”. That may well be the case. Yet the bank and the government continue to pretend that Brexit never happened. Thankfully, the public, and increasingly the press, are joining the dots. It would be helpful if those in charge of running the economy effectively did likewise.

 

“Brexit a roaring success” – have the Tories lost the plot?

“Brexit a roaring success” – have the Tories lost the plot?

Nov 26, 2022 | Bylines, News

A certain kind of desperation is taking hold in Conservative ranks as Brexit delusions begin to crumble in the face of reality, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for Yorkshire Bylines.

Anyone following British politics over recent months and years will no doubt have questioned the reliability of many political statements. You may even have thought you were being lied to, or at the very least that some politicians – especially those supporting Brexit – were lying to themselves.

Whether Westminster rhetoric has caused you to despair or made you angry, it will likely have made you question the sanity of some MPs, some Cabinet Ministers, or even some political parties. The latest bordering-on-bonkers nonsense is unlikely to cause any change in that opinion.

Brexit: A roaring success

If you are looking for fully-fledged governmental delusion, then right-wing Tory Brexit supporters are a good place to start. Stand up, former Deputy Leader of the House of Commons and former advisory member of the Leave Means Leave board, Peter Bone.

The Member for Wellingborough has previously described government plans to introduce same-sex marriage as “completely nuts”; has voted to lower the time limit for abortions to 12 weeks; is in favour of the death penalty and conscription; is opposed to a national minimum wage and was described as Britain’s “meanest boss” by the Daily Mirror in 1995. So, not exactly what you might call a leftie, or even a centrist.

Bone’s latest daft idea – in the face of public opinion and ample evidence of Brexit damage – is a parliamentary debate led by the Chancellor. The title? “Brexit: a roaring success”. Now it’s entirely possible that Bone is deluded enough to believe Brexit has been a hit. It’s even possible that former PM candidate, Penny Mordaunt, really does believe that he’s ”absolutely right”. What isn’t credible is that they think the public, or perhaps even parliament, are on the same page. The Tories may see the funny side of Bone’s ‘joke’. Those suffering the effects of a Covid, Ukraine and, yes, Brexit induced cost-of-living crisis, may not.

 

Brexit isn’t failing

For more Brexiter nonsense, you rarely need to look any further than the Rt. Hon. Lord Frost of Allenton PC CMG. Senior Fellow of right-wing think tank, Policy Exchange. Frost is a former Brexit negotiator, former diplomat (yes, honestly), former Cabinet Minister (briefly) and former special advisor to Foreign Secretary as was, Boris Johnson. Oh, and former Remainer. Now a staunch Brexiter, Frost displays the zeal of a true convert.

Delusional statements on Brexit are not new from Frost, and he’s never been shy about imparting his bonkers brand of wisdom to anyone who will listen (mostly Telegraph readers). Often aiming his counsel at the PM and/or the government, he has always been keen to impart advice on how to manage (his version of) Brexit.

Back in April, Frost warned the government to “Beware” (the threat?) that “Remainers are regrouping”. Then in May, he was advocating for the scrapping of the Northern Ireland Protocol, the very same deal that he & Boris Johnson had negotiated. Under duress, it would seem, or at least not in good faith.

Yet again, he is now warning that the enemies the government needs to watch out for are pro-Europeans. Remainers are, apparently, campaigning “to return the UK to the orbit of Brussels” but, are basing our plans on ”a fallacy”. According to Frost, “Brexit isn’t failing”. Or as Bone put it, Brexit is a “roaring success”.

I’m not sure where Frost gets his – for want of a better word – “intelligence” from, but it clearly isn’t from the OBR, the Bank of England or from anywhere but the most-right wing of media.

 

Losing their sanity

With the latest immigration figures disproving the Brexit myth of “taking back control of our borders”, the government desperately needed a new plan that would attempt to control numbers. Enter stage right Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak with the latest wild idea. A suggestion so inappropriate as to have had many – not least former Tory MP, David Gauke – questioning the sanity of his former party.

The latest government target, in the battle to reduce immigration, is foreign students. With net migration climbing to a record half a million plus, Sunak is considering putting up barriers to reduce the number of foreign students studying in the UK. Those barriers could include a crackdown on “low quality” degrees, restricting admissions to top universities and preventing foreign students from bringing dependents to the UK.

The plan, which is likely to have the support of the Home Secretary, could meet with resistance in Whitehall, however. The Department of Education will likely raise concerns about the potential impact on university funding, especially as foreign students pay considerably more for their university placements than UK nationals.

Former EU Brexit negotiator & MEP, Guy Verhofstadt, also drew attention to the impact on our country’s future. “Students are the last thing you want to ban”, he tweeted. “Everyone gets richer when talent and ideas travel across borders”. Not that we’d expect any politician, or party, that has swallowed the Brexit Kool-Aid to welcome any talent or ideas that “travel across borders.

No joking matter

British politics has changed so much over the last six years, in ways we never believed possible. Since the run-up to the Brexit referendum in 2016, we have witnessed a more divisive, mendacious and toxic discourse. A government that increasingly demands more power and less scrutiny, and has taken this country – and the Tory party – so far-right that it’s increasingly difficult to use the word democracy to describe our politics.

The sheer madness of some of the ideas and bills that this government has put forward would be hysterically funny if it weren’t so damned scary. Thankfully, the country, and increasingly the mainstream media, are waking up from their mass hysteria. The rising number of Tory MPs stepping down at the next general election would suggest that the party itself is waking up too. Well, some of them anyway.

So, have the government finally lost the plot? The rest of the world certainly thinks so, and increasingly, so does the voting public. Brexit has already cost four Prime Ministers their jobs. The Tory Party’s sanity looks set to be another Brexit casualty. We can only hope that they won’t be replaced by another kind of Brexit lunacy. It’s time, surely, for some common sense, realism and honesty.

The Brexit joke wasn’t funny in 2016. And it certainly isn’t funny now.

Brexit is not the “will of the people”

Brexit is not the “will of the people”

Nov 21, 2022 | Bylines, News

Brexit is in no one’s best interests. It’s time the politicians, like the British public, started to say so, out loud and in public, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for Yorkshire Bylines.

Back in the day when Theresa May was in charge of Brexit and the country, government by soundbite was all the rage. We had the meaningless “Brexit means Brexit” and the fatuous “strong and stable”, but none were so pervasive as the much relied upon “will of the people”.

 

The will of the people

It was the number one get-out-of-jail-free card for the government. Brexit was not the choice of the government, they said, but the democratic choice of the British voting public. It was defined as the will of the majority, and therefore it was the government’s duty to deliver it. Or at least to try.

Leaving aside the fact that only 17 million people voted for Brexit out of an eligible voting population of around 46 million, the claim that the referendum vote showed a clear majority in favour of leaving the EU was always a stretch. Add to that the fact that Leave won by such a small margin, and the lie that Brexit was the ‘will of the people’ was stretched to breaking point.

 

The “wrong decision”

Six and a half long years on from the referendum, with the impacts of Brexit being widely felt, the British public’s view of Brexit is rather different. ‘Project fear’ – which warned of the dangers of severing ties with our closest and largest trading partner – has become ‘project reality’. The lies of the Leave campaign have been revealed and the Brexit that was promised has been exposed as an illusion.

The majority of the British public – finally – have opened their eyes to the truth. In a recent YouGov poll, 56% now believe it was the ‘wrong decision to vote to leave the European Union’. Not only is that the highest percentage to date, but the gap between those that believe it was wrong and those that still support Brexit has widened to 24% – another record.

It’s not just Remainers saying that Brexit was wrong either. One in five people who voted for Brexit “now think it was the wrong decision” and only 70% – another record – believing they made the right decision in 2016.

 

Mounting evidence

Despite the government’s bare-faced attempts to hide the truth, or misdirect blame, the evidence of Brexit damage is piling up. Inflation – at 11.1% – is at a 41-year high, the country is in recession and the UK economy is going backwards. Where other countries that suffered economic downturns, due to Covid and the Ukraine war, are now recovering, the UK is not. In fact, the UK is the only G7 country where GDP is now lower that it was before the pandemic.

The Office for Budgetary Responsibility, sponsored by HM Treasury, has predicted a decline of 1.4% in GDP for 2023 – the “sharpest decline in Europe”. But don’t expect the government to accept that any of the UK’s economic problems are down to Brexit, or their own terrible mismanagement. Instead, you’ll hear references to causes outside of their control. Or as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt claimed in his Autumn statement, the blame lies with “unprecedented global headwinds”. The public don’t seem to believe that.

Time for politicians to start listening

It might suit the government to fail to accept the impact of Brexit. What is increasingly hard to justify though, is the Labour Party’s unwillingness to hold the government to account for it. That Labour would prefer to leave a toxic Brexit in the hands of the Conservatives is understandable. Their focus is on winning the next election, and reclaiming lost voters in red wall seats. But with such a demanding lead in the polls, the Tories currently so unpopular and shifting public opinion re Brexit, that Labour policy seems increasingly ill-advised.

With the shift in public opinion away from Brexit and back towards closer ties with Europe, it’s high time the government started listening. Brexit is not the will of the British people. It probably never was. It was, however, the will of an extremist right-wing cult in the Tory party and an attempt by David Cameron to prevent the party tearing itself apart.

As with almost everything else this government has touched since 2016, Brexit has been a very expensive, divisive, damaging and ultimately unsuccessful project. If the last six years have proved anything it’s that the government never cared for anyone’s best interests but their own. Brexit is in no one’s best interests. It’s time the politicians, like the British public, started to say so, out loud and in public.

This is not the Brexit you were looking for

This is not the Brexit you were looking for

Nov 12, 2022 | Bylines, News

Apparently this Brexit is not the one Leave voters wanted, and is certainly not what Remainers wanted, but it’s the one we’re all having to live with, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for Yorkshire Bylines. 

Chief executive of Next, Lord Simon Wolfson, has been publicly expressing his disappointment with Brexit. The Leave-supporting peer said recently, “it’s definitely not the Brexit that I wanted” and is calling on the government to ease the rules on foreign immigration.

Labour shortages are being acutely felt across a variety of industries, including retail, hospitality, logistics and farming. Wolfson claims the government is preventing much-needed workers from entering the UK despite the fact that many are “queueing up to come to this country”. Whilst he said it was worth incentivising businesses to recruit workers locally, there was a need to “let people in who can contribute”.

 

All in the Brexit mess together

Despite the divisiveness of the Brexit debate, we are now, apparently, all in this mess together. According to Wolfson “we’re all stuck in this Brexit argument” and should remember that “what post-Brexit Britain looks like is not the preserve of those that voted for Brexit, it’s for all of us to decide”. That includes, presumably, those of us who voted Remain.

He also claimed his current views on Brexit are shared by most of the Brexit-voting public and that they too didn’t get the Brexit they voted for. Though they did perhaps get the Brexit they were warned about.

The benefit of hindsight

Wolfson’s comments were widely criticised as another example of typical Leaver delusional thinking about Brexit. The expectations of prominent Brexiters were often of the rose-tinted variety where every government promise (lie) was believed, or at least yearned for. In short, the UK would not only flourish but would do so without any cost.

Wolfson had clearly expected to have all his business needs met without any additional barriers or costs. Such expectations of having cake and eating it have since been overtaken by reality. With the benefit of hindsight, that cake is now stale, expensive and hard to source.

LBC’s James O’Brien was flabbergasted by Wolfson’s comment. In response to the suggestion that the UK “take a different approach to economically productive migration” he replied:

“We did mate. It was called freedom of movement of people throughout the largest single market on the planet. That was the approach we had, that was the approach you rejected.”

A shift in public opinion

According to the latest polls, anti-Brexit sentiment is rising, and is at its highest level since the referendum. Some 52% of the British public now believe leaving the EU was the wrong decision as opposed to 35% who believe it was the right one.

The increasingly obvious damage that Brexit is causing to the economy, trade, the cost-of-living etc., is a big factor, especially now that damage is no longer hiding behind Covid or the war in Ukraine. But another significant reason for the public change of heart is the exposure of the scale of the lies the public were fed that persuaded so many to vote as they did.

Common ground

Back in 2016, Brexiters and Remainers had very different rationales for their voting choices. Now, however, both sides share some common ground and we are all suffering the same damaging and expensive consequences. And Wolfson is right about one thing. This is not the Brexit that any of us voted for. Not even those who were in charge of delivering it.

It is the Brexit our government negotiated, not the one that it promised. It’s the Brexit deal it lauded, then hated, and is now trying to unravel. Because the government doesn’t have the first clue how to fix it or to admit that Conservative ministers got it so horribly wrong.

That the government can’t be trusted with making Brexit work, in any way, shape or form, should be obvious to even those with the rosiest tinted glasses. That the government can’t be trusted to solve any of the country’s problems should scare the living Brexit out of us all!

Home Office still perpetuating dangerous anti-immigration rhetoric

Home Office still perpetuating dangerous anti-immigration rhetoric

Nov 4, 2022 | Bylines, News

The Home Office does not speak for desperate migrants. It does not speak for businesses crying out for staff. And it certainly does not speak for me, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for Yorkshire Bylines.

Ever since the Brexit referendum in 2016, the UK has become disturbingly familiar with anti-immigration rhetoric. Before the toxic language of UKIP/Brexit Party changed the nature of the conversation, the majority of the British public had no issue with European citizens doing jobs that they didn’t want. Six years on and staff shortages are a major issue, especially in industries such as hospitability or food. Thanks to Brexit.

 

Home Office – all talk and no action

Not only did Brexit change public attitudes towards migration, it shifted the Conservative Party ever further to the right. With that shift came increasingly alarming language from one home secretary after another.

First, we had Theresa May with her ‘go-home’ vans. Then we had Priti Patel with her disgusting policy – never yet implemented, thankfully – of sending desperate asylum seekers to Rwanda. Finally, just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, along comes Suella Braverman, not once, but twice. With her far-right language of “stopping the invasion” and “the scourge of illegal immigration” it’s no wonder she earned the nickname Cruella.

If the rhetoric itself – from a government department responsible for the welfare of vulnerable asylum seekers – wasn’t bad enough, the lack of action is unconscionable. And deliberate, very deliberate.

 

Numbers can lie

Not only is Braverman’s cruel and toxic language offensive, but it is not supported by the facts. While it’s true that the number of desperate migrants crossing the British Channel has increased considerably – to over 40,000 this year alone – the numbers don’t tell the whole story. What they don’t explain is why.

They also fail to evaluate UK immigration against that of other European countries. That comparison shows the UK well down the European league table – in 19th place – when reviewing immigrant numbers as a percentage of the population. A fact that even the reticent BBC News programme is now sharing on prime-time TV.

 

Immigration: no solutions, only obstacles

Although migration from the EU has reduced, immigration from the rest of the world has not. In fact, it has increased. Desperate asylum seekers willing to risk life and limb for a chance of a better life have been left with no other options. Safe routes no longer exist – thanks to the Home Office – and earlier arrangements with the EU are now unavailable.

Aspects of the Common European Asylum System no longer apply to the UK, and the loss of the Dublin III Regulation in particular has removed the UK’s ability to return asylum seekers to other European countries. Leaving the EU has also meant that EU funding is no longer available for assistance with asylum and immigration initiatives.

Despite all the promises that Brexit would reduce immigration, it hasn’t. We have, it seems, failed to take back control of our borders. Immigration was, for the purposes of Brexit, a suitable topic to hang a culture war battle on, and still is.

 

Anti-immigration rhetoric: words matter

The terms ‘refugee’ and ‘asylum seeker’ are rarely used by the government. Instead, they prefer labels that stir up hatred and division. They prefer pejorative terms such as ‘illegal immigrant’, when what they mean is ‘undocumented’ or ‘irregular’. But those terms wouldn’t rile up the far-right, or satisfy those far-right members of the government, such as the European Research Group (ERG), the home secretary included.

 

The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) believes that labelling human being as ‘illegals’ is an example of bias. Not only does it affect public perception, but it also impacts on policy. The term ‘illegal’ implies criminality, is discriminatory, and quite frankly, offensive.

A person cannot be illegal. Migration is not a crime.

 

Government misreading the room

Regardless of their own personal views on immigration, the Tories have used migrants for their own ends. They successfully persuaded enough of the nation that poor, desperate immigrants were the cause of the UK’s ills (along with the evil EU, of course). They directed public anger at those looking for a better life in Britain, and away from themselves. What worked in 2016, however, is not working now. But the government is seemingly so blinded by its own hatred that is has failed to notice the change in public opinion.

Despite increased levels of immigration over the intervening period, the British public are now far more tolerant of immigrants. Before the referendum, levels of anxiety were rising in line with overseas arrivals. Those concerns seem now to have evaporated. Except in government circles.

Whether it is the toxicity of the rhetoric, the cruelty of government policies, or the distressing sight of asylum seekers being treated like animals, public opinion does not match government language or actions. The world is watching and the behaviour of the UK – especially towards citizens of other nations – is under a microscope. The view is not a pretty one.

 

Failing to fulfil commitments

When withdrawing from the Dublin III Regulation, the government made a commitment to the 1951 Refugee Convention, of which the UK is a signatory. It pledged that leaving the EU would “not change the UK’s obligation to offer protection to refugees”. The government also claimed that “the UK’s status as a ‘world leader’ in the field of asylum will not change once it is no longer subject to EU laws”.

No doubt, if asked, the Home Office would say it has fulfilled those obligations, but their treatment of asylum seekers at Manston Asylum Centre in Kent would suggest otherwise. A note from a young detainee was recently thrown over the fence in a desperate plea for help. In it the young girl complained about bad food and said it was “like we’re in prison”. She said there were a lot of children on site who “shouldn’t be here …. they should be in school”.

Following recent bad press about overcrowding at Manston, the Home Office took action to rapidly remove hundreds of detainees. However, their ill-judged action included the shocking abandonment of 11 Afghan, Syrian and Iraqi asylum seekers at Victoria train station at 11pm on Tuesday evening. The asylum seekers were left without warm clothes, money, accommodation or food, some in flip-flops. Another 50 were abandoned at Victoria coach station. Thankfully charity volunteers stepped in to do the government’s job for them – offering the protection the government claimed to be committed to offering refugees.

Asylum seekers are desperate people escaping desperate circumstances. They would have to be, just to put themselves through the expense, horror and danger of the journey that brings them to our shores. They deserve to be treated with dignity and compassion. To have their applications dealt with in a timely and sensitive fashion and to be housed in decent living conditions in the meantime. They deserve to be offered to opportunity to contribute to British society, as they so desperately wish. They do not deserve the treatment they receive at the hands of a government that is not acting on behalf of anyone but themselves.

The Home Office does not speak for desperate migrants. It does not speak for businesses crying out for staff. And it certainly does not speak for me.