Headline grabbing Home Office announcements unlikely to distract from failure to ‘stop the boats’
They are the headlines the government wants you to see.
“War on crooked migration lawyers” proclaims the front page of the Daily Mail, and “Migration cheats risk life in Jail” leads the Times.
It’s proof Number 10 have managed to set the media agenda in recess, steering the conversation onto housing and energy in the last two weeks, and now onto immigration.
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A series of announcements – a crackdown on businesses employing migrants illegally and on immigration lawyers helping migrants “exploit” the system – have gained traction, but that won’t distract from their feeble record so far on stopping the boats.
Today’s announcement is not necessarily new either, tackling “corrupt immigration lawyers” was part of Boris Johnson’s Borders and Immigration Bill. Alex Chalk admitted this morning the taskforce would operate within “existing structures”.
The fact the Home Secretary was nowhere to be seen yesterday tells you everything you need to know about the progress of moving migrants out of hotels. It is not going smoothly.
After months of build-up, live tracking the Bibby Stockholm’s journey from Europe, the first asylum seekers finally boarded the barge. A grand total of 15 made it aboard; a fraction of the boat’s capacity of 500 and of the 50,000 still in hotels.
According to a Home Office source more arrivals are also expected at the disused military site at RAF Wethersfield this week to join the 40 or so already there. Again, a number that won’t shift the dial.
The justice secretary this morning stressed the financial impact of housing asylum seekers in hotels: “We are spending £6m a day on four star hotel accommodation” he said, adding that money would “have to be borrowed” to keep people in hotels.
But how much is running a giant barge to house 15 people costing? And what will be the cost of lawyers if the government has to defend its plans?
Distinguishing between the noise and briefings, and actual substantial policy change isn’t easy and Labour are struggling to seize back the narrative amid the claims “Labour linked lawyers” are “sabotaging” asylum plans (claims they obviously deny).
The headlines the government is generating around immigration, however, don’t show any real breakthough on small boats.
In the end “boats week” could just shine a light on their own failures.