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Piddington's asylum revolt must be a wake up call for Labour, argues James Hanson.
The sleepy Oxfordshire village has voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence from the UK in a protest against plans to house more than 1,200 male asylum seekers at a nearby former military base.
But how can Britain solve the small boats crisis once and for all?
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0:00
Three cheers for Piddington. The sleepy Oxfordshire village voted to leave the UK this week
0:07
in a symbolic protest against plans to house more than 1,200 male asylum seekers
0:12
at a nearby former military base. And even though, yes, the result is obviously only symbolic
0:21
I would argue with their unequivocal rejection of this government's disastrous asylum policies
0:26
the villagers have pretty much spoken for an entire nation. Because I'm sorry, the vast majority of Brits, myself included now
0:35
have simply run out of patience. When even waitrose shopping mums in a leafy Lib Dem seat in Oxfordshire are in revolt
0:46
you know you have messed things up horrendously. So here is my question to you this hour
0:53
What needs to happen to finally solve the small boats crisis once and for all
0:58
If you accept that this cannot continue, we cannot continue to have a situation where tens of thousands of people, undocumented people, come here every year whose identities we do not know
1:10
And then we have the burden of having to accommodate them somewhere when their claims are being processed
1:15
What needs to happen? How do we fix this once and for all
1:19
because successive governments now have tried various things and have failed. So what is the solution
1:26
0345 60 60 973 is the number to call. Send me a message on WhatsApp on the same number
1:32
or you can text me 84850. First of all, just on the need to fix this
1:38
I think it is absolutely imperative on the mainstream parties to finally get a grip on this
1:43
because if liberals don't fix our borders, extremists will. Look at the lesson from Germany where the AFD now is on the rise, in part because of Angela Merkel's disastrous open borders refugee policy from Syria about 10 years ago
2:01
Look at the fact that Donald Trump returned to power in 2024 in America, in part because of the failure of Joe Biden to get a grip on the southern border
2:09
If you believe, as I do, that legal immigration is a good thing, you have to be prepared to show zero tolerance towards illegal immigration
2:19
And yes, we need safe and legal routes for asylum seekers. There should be a process by which people can legally apply to be here
2:27
But I think the solution to the small boats crisis is quite simple
2:33
You have to set the precedent that the moment you get on a small boat off the coast of northern France you invalidate your asylum claim You ain getting in
2:46
The moment you board one of those, well, they're not even just small boats anymore, mega dinghies, the moment you put money into the pocket of despicable people smugglers
2:56
you have invalidated your asylum claim. And the moment you arrive, we will take you off the boat
3:02
and we will detain and deport you. Either back to your home country, if there is a returns agreement with that country, or if not, to a safe third country, be it Rwanda, be it somewhere else
3:17
And I think it was, in retrospect, an absolute disgrace and a terrible mistake from the Labour government in one of their first acts in power in 2024 to scrap the Rwanda scheme
3:30
because it hadn't properly been tried. And I do think it would have been a deterrent
3:38
I do think it would have potentially killed the trade of the people smugglers
3:44
It would have destroyed their business model because it would have rendered pointless the boarding of the small boats in the first place
3:52
And I think by successive governments' failure to get a grip on this
3:56
the British people are moving to a place where they want more and more radical solutions
4:00
Frankly, I don't care now if we need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights
4:04
Fine, so be it. If that's what needs to happen to stop the courts challenging attempts to detain and deport people who come here on small boats, so be it
4:14
I think if we need to use the Royal Navy to intercept and turn back small boats, fine, go for it
4:21
And if we need to revive the Rwanda scheme or a version of it, I think that is something that should be considered
4:27
until you make it clear that boarding a small boat is futile, will not work
4:35
We will not fix this problem. And I know the Refugees' Welcome Brigade will bleat on about
4:42
oh, well, you know, the reason these people are coming here is because they speak better English than they do French
4:50
That's why they need to leave France, which is, last time I checked, a safe country
4:54
the point at which you are trying to flee France to come to Britain because you want a better life
5:00
well you're entitled to want to come to Britain from France but you should apply legally for a
5:06
visa like any other economic migrant the point at which you are standing on the shores of France
5:11
a safe country you are no longer an asylum seeker in my view you are an economic migrant who wants to move here for a better life and I don deny anyone the right to seek a better life You perfectly entitled to But you not seeking asylum You not fleeing war because
5:27
you're not in a war zone anymore. You're in France. So we have to be clear. And when people say
5:34
yeah, but they speak better English than French, or they might have family in the UK, yes
5:38
both perfectly true potentially. But that makes you an economic migrant, and therefore you should apply legally for a visa
5:46
like many other people do every year, you should not be boarding a small boat
5:51
putting money in the hands of despicable people smugglers, fuelling that trade and undermining Britain's border security
5:56
And it is pretty outrageous that your first act towards the country
6:01
in which you are seeking refuge is to absolutely make a mockery of our border security
6:06
So what in your view is the solution to the small boats crisis
6:10
because you can't tell me it's the one-in-one-out policy with France. I mean, that is just a joke
6:15
It is simply not working. And even though Shabana Mahmood likes to say, well, small boat numbers are coming down
6:20
the crossings are coming down, I think it is pretty clear that the numbers do fluctuate
6:25
and it is still far, far too high. We don't want the numbers coming down
6:31
We want no small boat crossings. Not because we're heartless and lack compassion
6:35
and don't want to house people who are genuinely fleeing famine, poverty and war
6:43
but because we don't like seeing our border security undermined in such a flagrant way
6:49
And I wonder what you think the solution is. And I wonder if you have gone on a similar journey to me
6:53
Five years ago, I would never have sat here saying we should be leaving the European Convention on Human Rights
6:58
But the fact that we have just continually failed to find a solution to this problem
7:04
means you've got to reach for quite a radical solution, do you not
7:10
And I know there are people who say, oh, well, you don't like human rights then, James. No, come on, that is a complete distortion
7:15
of the position of those who argue that we should extract ourselves from a legal framework
7:20
which is the ECHR. I would replace it with a British Bill of Rights. Of course, human rights are fundamental
7:24
and they should be protected under law. But they should be protected under our law
7:29
not making us at the mercy of judges in Strasbourg who want to intervene in decisions that the British people want to make
7:36
Because the British people are very, very clear on this. And look at Piddington. Piddington is a perfect case study
7:42
And by the way, I am fed up with the sneering that has happened
7:46
and been directed towards the people of Piddington this week. The people of Piddington are just at their wits' end
7:53
This is a village of, what, 300 or 400 people. Go figure Of course they don want 1 young men because we can see with our own eyes that the vast majority of people on these small boats are young men They don want 1 young men doesn matter what nationality they are or what background they come from
8:10
they don't want 1,200 young men being housed on the edge of their village
8:15
Of course that will fundamentally change the nature of the village. And the other issue with the asylum issue is why are they not being supervised 24-7 while their asylum claims are being processed
8:28
Because we have had enough horror stories of people, undocumented migrants, whose identity we haven't even established, whose claims are still being processed, committing heinous, often violent crimes, sexual offences through to murder while their claims are being processed
8:45
and we simply did not know who they were and they were not being supervised
8:50
They were often being put up in asylum hotels or other asylum accommodation at that point
8:55
And I don't think it is unreasonable to say while their claims are being processed
9:00
while we are establishing whether they have the right to be here as a refugee
9:04
because that is what you become at the point at which your asylum claim is approved, we should supervise them
9:11
We should make sure that we are monitoring them. And that surely would go a long way to easing the concerns of particularly the women in Piddington who have been leading this campaign when they say we feel deeply uncomfortable with 1,200 largely young men being housed on our doorstep
9:32
And I think it is disgraceful. Do you know the women of Piddington wrote to every single female MP, raising their concerns? Do you know how many MPs responded? Four
9:45
four MPs got back. It's about 1.5% of all the female MPs
9:50
It's disgraceful. These are not Tommy Robinson rabble-rousers. These are middle England waitrose-shopping mums
9:59
who are just a bit concerned about 1,200 young men rocking up on their doorstep in a village they live in of 300 or 400
10:06
It's an entirely legitimate concern. And the fact that more MPs didn't get back to them
10:10
and take that concern seriously is pretty disgraceful. and you know there is a certain irony that you get a certain type of smug liberal who bangs on
10:21
about citizens assemblies and the need to have more democratic accountability you have an example
10:26
of local democracy of people in Pittington saying we don't want these asylum seekers on our doorstep
10:31
and suddenly that's invalid because it's the wrong opinion what is the solution to the small boats
10:38
crisis how do we fix this once and for all
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