The Labour Party and current UK government do not wish to resort to gimmicks or empty rhetorics. They want to do something. They want to try to deal with the illegal crossing of the English Channel, they want to solve the problem. Unfortunately, they have not sat down to understand the simple fact that the problem is COMMUNICATION.
This morning, there is an article in the press, about a brilliant operation by the police, where they busted a gang responsible for smuggling thousands across the channel. But if you go to the comments section of the report, there were hundreds of comments on there, stating that it isn’t enough and that the government is useless.
When we had the Rwanda gimmick and the equally useless ‘Stop the Boats’ rhetoric from the previous government who were in power for 14 years, years when the buildup of uncontrolled migration shot through the rough, nobody rioted, there was no protest. Why? because Boris Johnson and his government knew all they had to do, was use the right slogans, say the things people wanted to hear: “there is an invasion, we will crush the invaders”, and that’s all. They knew they didn’t really have to do anything else.
The labour government do not want to say horrible things about migrants just to appease. They do not wish to throw gimmicks – that won’t work – out there. Very noble of them. But it isn’t going to work is it? The current government can round up and deport every single person who crossed the channel into the country, and it won’t be enough. They can deport every single migrant and round up every non-Caucasian in the country and deport them and it still won’t be enough. THIS IS WHAT THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS TO UNDERSTAND. None of this was ever about facts or reality. If it was, there wouldn’t be any anti-migration riots and protests in the first place. The facts do nothing!
It is a COMMUNICATIONS challenge. The government needs to re-engage with the people. They need to stop talking down to people. Politicians at the grassroots need to re-engage with people up and down the country, to explain to them that things are being done.
People crossing the channel into the country cannot be normalised. Britain is more than willing to take its fair share of asylum seekers, refugees and even economic migrants. We have been – taking many in – for decades. The British people never rioted (in the present manner) over those many years. The communication – yes, sometimes it is deliberately distorted, in order to rile up the masses for political gain – is what has broken down! It began with David Cameron assuming he can win the Brexit vote without needing to communicate the facts, clearly, to the country. It starts with politicians assuming they no longer need to engage with the masses. There are reasons it has been so difficult for any government to tackle the channel crossings. Those reasons have not been explained to the masses, because politicians think they won’t get it?
Well, set up town hall events, knock on doors, engage with people, EXPLAIN IT TO THEM!
And alongside all that, explain the steps you are taking to address it AND how those steps will be successful. There must be effective monitoring of employers and whoever hands jobs to people in the country, with harsh penalties in place for any infringement. And then a tax code that recoups costs from people the country help (proportionately of course) or whatever measures the government implement to stop people seeing the UK as an easy target.
Alongside all that, IT IS VERY CLEAR that we have fallen way back, in creating new jobs, new industry, dragging people out of poverty! It is not a matter of people getting lazy and sitting on collecting benefits! If you create opportunities for people to work and make even more money than the benefits they receive, they will opt for the former. People want to be prosperous. They want their holidays in the sun. Create new industry, new jobs, get the country back on its feet and nobody would be interested in rioting! They will be too busy googling their next holiday to Benidorm!
Yes, the has always been and there will always be, a small group of people who will never the satisfied. People who will always have a reason to want to lash out. If it isn’t about immigration, it will be about Brexit or something else. But this group of people were previously on the fringes. They used to be a few hundreds, moaning in their living rooms and spewing hate just to their children and causing tiny pockets of problem.
But the lack of communication, lack of engagement over the last 30 years, has led to where we are today, where the UK, a country filled with very clever, sensible, often carefree people who like eating curry on Fridays, Italian food, French, African, you name it.. and had no issues with raising £billions to aid struggling countries etc., suddenly became a place where anything done by a migrant can now result in riots on our streets and people getting targeted etc. The government has to change how they communicate, how they engage with the people. But most importantly, the government needs to really focus on new ideas to get everyone out of poverty! It will solve majority of those other issues!
The overwhelming majority of British people are very decent and tolerant. I have worked in several countries over the years, I am always happy to be back home in the UK. But then successive governments have decided – for whatever reason – that there is no need to engage with grassroots Brits and keep them engaged and explain things to them, then their backs are up and they want to show their objection and they want to take the government on, and immigration becomes the easy target, the easy reason to take to the streets etc. If the government can change how they engage with the people and get back to accepting that governments do need to explain themselves to the people, you will see a marked change in the UK, with the majority going back to just getting on with their lives and not marching off to London to protest or react each time anyone that looks different commit a crime!
Knowledge can improve the world we live in 