Migrant crisis

With growing concern over the shocking scenes in Calais is it the sole responsibility of the UK or should the rest of the EU help to sort out the problem?

"As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome." - Noam Chomsky

What the deputy mayor was pointing out was that decisions were being made in London and Paris and that the town of Calais is not being included in discussions about what they see re theproblems and how they could be solved

If the government made it That you can't claim benefits unless you lived here for 7 years as the German government did they would not be all so desperate to come here.

I think the problems we are not doing more to getting the African & Asian nations doing more on their continents to crack down, capture and close down the gangs and outfits that are doing all this, if you can take out the problem at it's source you probably would start to see a real difference, but surely once you are in a part of the EU and it is declared a safe haven then surely that is where you have to stay?
The biggest problem then is once you get in to the UK there are people here willing to get you into the benefits systems and therefore we should do more to crack down on that area too!! I get sick and tired of EU states bleating it is not their problem....especially the Frogs and that mayor of Calais say it is not her problem but ours.....they want to get to the UK, the UK has to deal with it sometimes I get the impression the EU wants to wash it's hands of the problem and let us del with it all by ourselves... "After all it is a UK problem, let them deal with it!"..
And putting up a steel fence costing a bomb ain't going to help much either and then if Cameron did adopt the German 7 year benefits ban he would have to fight the European courts of Human Rights over and over when they rule his idea of no benefits for 7 years is an infringement of migrants rights illegal....then we have to work out who is a true asylum seeker and who isn't....it is probably alright for other EU states to have benefits bans, but we bloody can't!! Another case of one law for one state and one for the rest!! I think the more talking that goes on, the less activity and progress on the ground is made and the bigger the problem gets...

(05-08-2015 00:51 )setter1000 Wrote:  If the government made it That you can't claim benefits unless you lived here for 7 years as the German government did they would not be all so desperate to come here.

It doesn't appear to be stopping people applying:

2014 figures:


40% of applicants tried Germany. Just 4% the UK.

Granted Germany do only approve just over 20% of applications. According to the BBC "...asylum was granted to 163,000 people in first instance decisions - that is, nearly 45% of such decisions. Germany granted the most - 41,000, followed by Sweden (31,000) and Italy (21,000)."

As the article states, Germany is among several countries that have stopped sending migrants back to Greece (first point of entry into the EU for many).

This Mirror article gives further figures. EU Commission records show the UK ranked 14th out of 28 EU countries last year, per capita, approving 217 asylum requests per million population. (Sweden was top with 3,388 approvals per million of population.) Out of 31,945 applications the UK approved around 44%.

Also, it is worth bearing in mind that "one in 20 asylum applications made to the UK last year were from unaccompanied minors."

Just 4.6% of immigrants to the UK were asylum seekers in 2013. That figure may well increase but this level-headed article puts things in the right perspective to my mind. Required reading for anyone who wishes to spout on this subject that one.

@ shandyhand they have recovered the quickest though haven't they? Most job prospects. probably as a result of not allowing people benefits on immediate arrival in the country. Also how many applicants did they have each year before introducing that law. Not sure I sprouted on about it though. Think my post was about three lines. Here is a thought maybe if introduced the 7 year benefits law maybe might get less people trying to get in to the UK regardless of the amount of applicants for Germany. I'm probably just being naive.
Can you produce the stats that display amount of people that sneak in under the radar Each year so to speak?
It always makes me laugh how people have so much compassion for every immigrants sob story yet totally ignore the plight of the homeless in the UK.
I know a women who told some homeless people to piss off when asked for change yet went to Ghana as a vso. Things people do to be seen as being liberal minded.

40,000 Pensioners died in this country last Winter due to the cold. You'll have to forgive me for not giving a toss about "migrants" whilst that sort of thing is going on.

As for the Lentil munchers who tell us it's our duty to help them, i suggest they each take in 2 of these Migrants and pay all their food costs. Any volunteers?....I doubt it.

(05-08-2015 17:35 )setter1000 Wrote:  @ shandyhand they have recovered the quickest though haven't they? Most job prospects. probably as a result of not allowing people benefits on immediate arrival in the country. Also how many applicants did they have each year before introducing that law. Not sure I sprouted on about it though. Think my post was about three lines. Here is a thought maybe if introduced the 7 year benefits law maybe might get less people trying to get in to the UK regardless of the amount of applicants for Germany. I'm probably just being naive.
Can you produce the stats that display amount of people that sneak in under the radar Each year so to speak?
It always makes me laugh how people have so much compassion for every immigrants sob story yet totally ignore the plight of the homeless in the UK.
I know a women who told some homeless people to piss off when asked for change yet went to Ghana as a vso. Things people do to be seen as being liberal minded.

The 'spouting' was not aimed at you specifically. You are at least showing some compassion and thought into this.

No-one can produce stats for a figure that is totally unknowable obviously. (Such people would presumably have to work illegally to stay under the radar.) It is this factor that allows arrant scaremongering to persist.

The right wing press with their agendas are the main focus of my enmity on this subject. There is obviously more to it than just straight numbers but it helps with perspective I think - a lot more than hyperbole and dogged ideology do anyway IMO.

Just sat here in bed watching these chaotic scenes in Hungary. My view is that this is the biggest humanitarian crisis to face Europe since the second world war. These people are not going to go away because we close our borders but conversely we need to do more to protect the International waters which are being exploited to get them here.

As a European Union the ability to coordinate a plan whih is currently hitting all parts of the region will be severely tested. To just say up the quotas even if all 28 countries admitted 200,000 and assume that took care of circa 5m people the concern is it would encourage another 5m

I am really keen to hear the views of others as I dont think we as a United Kingdom can adopt an isolated position, the Channel is only a part protection for us!