Priti's Reforms Will Make Immigration Safer And Fairer

Announcing this week a wholesale reform of our immigration system, Priti Patel is delivering on making UK borders safer and fairer for genuine asylum seekers.

- Tim Newark

Ever since Britain took in French Huguenot refugees over 300 years ago, we have a proud record of providing a safe haven but the Home Secretary is right to stand against criminal gangs exploiting the system.

Britons want a “new system that works for the law-abiding majority and against those who abuse our hospitality and generosity,” she says. “One that welcomes those most in need of sanctuary and one that slams the door on dangerous criminals. One that attracts top talent from around the world.”

Until recently, politicians have treated the subject of immigration as a hot potato and inferred that any concern about it is “racist”. But ever since Tony Blair let in a million economic migrants from Eastern Europe from 2004 onwards – when the government predicted 13,000 – voters have grown sceptical about mass migration which has impacted most on poorer sections of society.

Brexit votes in 2016 and 2019 have ensured that free movement from Europe should now be controlled, but we still have the tragic sight of hundreds of illegal migrants risking their lives crossing the Channel in flimsy boats – and making their gangster traffickers rich.