DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Stop taking Britons for fools on migration
There are few things more objectionable than politicians who take the public for complete fools.
The Tories’ cynical manoeuvring around yesterday’s immigration statistics is one of the more blatant attempts to do so.
Fully aware that the figures would be catastrophic for the Government, its expectation management machine cranked into action to quell any backlash.
Spin doctors allowed truly dire predictions that net migration was set to surge past 700,000 to circulate, in the hope that voters would feel grateful if the actual number was lower. Do they honestly think we’re idiots?
The truth is no amount of news manipulation could spare Rishi Sunak from humiliation when the Office for National Statistics announced that migration had swollen Britain’s population by a staggering 606,000 last year – an ignominious all-time record.
Rishi Sunak, rightly intent on stopping small boats crossing the Channel, accepts migration is ‘too high’. But he’s PM – what practical steps will he take to reduce it?
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer makes the incredible claim that only the Labour Party can be trusted to repair our broken immigration system
This is far from the long-standing Conservative pledge to bring numbers down. Indeed, since the country voted for Brexit in 2016, partly to escape the EU’s rules on free movement, the annual total has doubled. That’s hardly taking back control. It’s more an epic betrayal.
There are, of course, one-off factors. Surely no one could object to the one in five who are refugees from Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan and other troubled lands.
However, the overwhelming majority coming here legally, seeking new opportunities, are waved in via other visa routes.
There has been a huge bounce in international students, although they do not necessarily all leave after completing their courses. Severely restricting their ability to bring in family members should make a dent in the numbers.
The number of foreign employees has ballooned by 300,000. It is still far too easy for businesses to import cheap labour, discouraging them from investing in training and technology to enhance productivity.
Mr Sunak, rightly intent on stopping small boats crossing the Channel, accepts migration is ‘too high’. But he’s PM – what practical steps will he take to reduce it?
Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer makes the incredible claim that only the Labour Party can be trusted to repair our broken immigration system.
The Mail doesn’t need to remind readers just how fervently Sir Keir fought to retain free movement during Brexit and that his political hero, Tony Blair, flung open Britain’s borders in the first place.
But the Tories can’t rely on persuading voters that ‘Labour will do worse’ in power. Mr Sunak must acknowledge – and address – anger and concern that mass migration is depressing wages and placing huge strain on creaking schools, housing and hospitals.
Time and time again, politicians have ignored the public’s demand to cut migration. They are again taking us for fools. Millions of voters won’t forget.
A new, puerile low
With every moronic, destructive and wanton act, militant environmentalists turn the very public they need to engage with more heavily against them.
Who isn’t heartily sick of the attention-seeking eco-fanatics convinced they have some kind of moral authority to act in any way they like?
It’s hard to know what’s more maddening about yesterday’s puerile antics. The fact they seem blissfully unaware that frightening lambs and damaging a sustainable garden achieves the opposite of what they claim to believe in. Or the cast-iron certainty that the feeble authorities will let them get away with it – as usual.
Whether blocking roads, disrupting sporting events or vandalising art, these middle-class hippies are treated with obsequious thoughtfulness.
This time, though, they have sunk to a sickening new low. It’s time the powers-that-be stopped pandering to their protests.
Source: Read Full Article