Thread: Before I provide a breakdown of a number of ways in which @NatalieElphicke is wrong, I need to make a comment about the way in which mindless xenophobia is being portrayed as "humanitarian". There is nothing humanitarian about refusing asylum. 1/

https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1325581/Illegal-immigrants-Channel-migrants-Channel-death-Dover-Nathalie-Elphicke/amp?__twitter_impression=true

Let's start with the "breaking in line", the "brazeness" crack about people risking their lives I would hope goes without saying for being abominable. There is nothing illegal about either crossing the channel or seeking asylum. 2/

The use of language here is...... interesting. 85% of the global refugee population reside in developing countries, 80% in countries which face acute food shortages. Developing nations, not just UK, by no means now, or ever will, "welcome everyone in the world". 3/

The reality of the situation is that the vast majority of people, whether refugees or otherwise, don't tend to move very far from where they were born. Family, friends and familiarity all play a part. To suggest otherwise doesn't just ignore facts, it ignores life. 4/

This is perhaps one of the more disingenuous comments which @NatalieElphicke comes out with. Resettlement, of which the UK has only limited routes, is one of the most minor contributing factors to the number of refugees a country takes. 5/

The UK has 36 thousand plus asylum applications, compared to say 150 plus for France and 165 plus for Germany, or the 4 million refugees in Turkey for example. It is a nice way for @NatalieElphicke, and others, to pretend UK is doing more, while it is doing less though. 6/

On this @NatalieElphicke and I are in agreement. There does need to be better response. It needs to be a better response than standing by a dinghy on video complaining people are seeking safety though. It needs to be a response which actually involves providing that safety 7/

It also needs to be a response which recognises that as routes are closed to asylum seekers they are forced to take more treacherous ones, such as has been seen with border closures and rise of channel crossings, which drives people into the arms of traffickers. 8/

France has increased interceptions, depending on the figures you look at, by between 5 and 10x's those of last year. With about 47% of crossings being intercepted. What @NatalieElphicke appears to be suggesting is that France should take asylum seekers but not the UK though. 9/

What @NatalieElphicke fails to mention here is the deaths in places like Nauru, the conditions which asylum seekers are kept in when "offshoring" them, or that such policies are predicted to cost Australia $117billion in lost GDP over the next decade. 10/

The Australian system is proof that countries don't count loss of life when their actions cause it. It is also proof that when you enact such policies you violate international law and cost your own country billions. 11/

The UK is currently signed up to processes such as the "Khartoum Process", whereby we and the EU states pay countries such as Sudan to prevent asylum seekers reaching our borders. Likewise paying for refugees to be kept in Libyan camps where they are sold into slavery. 12/

What we see across the channel at the moment @NatalieElphicke, predominantly, is smuggling. That is where someone pays a criminal gang to get them from A, France, to B, the UK. When you close borders and enact tougher policies you increase the costs of smugglers. 13/

This means that people are then forced into the hands of traffickers, who extract payment after the journey by exploiting refugees and forcing them to work in such sectors as prostitution. 14/

Jingoistic language of "great country" etc designed to appeal to nationalists aside @NatalieElphicke, please don't try and mask xenophobia with faux-humanitarian, when answer is UK opens safe routes and starts to actually helps asylum seekers instead of assuming others will. 15/

As per usual, apologies for typos grammar etc. I type quickly and make errors when irritated.