Immigration is an issue that the UK government has been dealing with for a long time, but immigration is still a high concern for British society.
According to the latest figures released by the Home Office, nearly 30,000 people have already arrived in the UK by small boat across the Channel this year, more than the total for the whole of 2023, which was 29,437; in 2022, the total number of people arriving in the UK by smuggling in this way was 45,791.
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Rwandan policy was not implemented and was scrapped by the current government at the expense of the budget. The current Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also recently announced a £75 million increase in funding for border security.
The UK government has spent a lot of taxpayers’ money trying to reduce the number of more migrants crossing the Channel, but the results don’t look good. Has the government done enough?
Callum Gronert, 33, Film TV, Swansea
“To be honest with you, I think right now it’s less about immigration, it’s more about controlling of foreign investment into our stuff, that’s the only international issue I think we are struggling with. But I think Britain is a very good country, we offer good services and we should have our borders not like completely open, but be able to support people seeking asylum.”
Lvy, 23, Student, China
“I don’t think the UK government has done a good job of controlling immigration, and there are still a lot of illegal immigrants coming to the UK by small boats. I’ve seen a lot of reports on the news about small boats. But it doesn’t bother me because I won’t be in this country for long. I think it’s probably a problem for native British people that needs to be addressed.”
Andrew Phelps, 63, Aircraft Fitter, Barry
“I think they need more action on it. For the immigrants, they are getting everything they require, getting houses and everything else. But we have thousands of people on the street, they have nowhere to go, they are homeless. We work as taxpayers to have our own money, not for others, the British people should be looking after themselves first.”
Gerard Griffiths, 57, Lawyer, Cardiff
“The government should take action to protect the immigrants who come by boat instead of deporting them. The reason why they take the risk of coming here in a small boat, I think it’s criminal organizations taking advantage of their desire to come to this country, it’s not their fault, they’re sort of financially taken advantage of. We need immigrants to this country, because it’s the way the economy will develop, if you look at the NHS, it’s kept afloat by people from abroad working there.”
Sahadat Ali, 22, Student, India
“Immigrants can do a lot of work, I believe the government ought to accept immigrants to increase the workforce, instead of simply blocking immigration. Because immigrants can give the economy a lift and raise GDP.”