Home Office Immigration Statistics 2023

The home office latest migration figures show a staggering 62,000 people were granted asylum in the UK in 2023. The highest number since records began 40 years ago. Rishi Sunak’s mission to stop the boats is working to an extent. Really? The number of migrants crossing the English Channel is down by over a third. but over 36,000 people still entered the country illegally last year.

Meanwhile three people are dead after a vessel with 50 Asylum Seekers on board got into difficulties off the French Coast.

Now joining us is the Deputy Leader of Reform UK Ben Habib. Ben, I mean when I look at some of these statistics, when I look at the fact that we have granted Asylum to 62,000 people, the highest number since records began that was last year. You kind of think to think to yourself  where’s the deterrent? It seems to me that instead of stopping the boats it is incentivizing the boats and don’t even get me started on the legal migration stuff.

Well absolutely, and you know it stands to reason that if you wish to stop the boats you’ve got to stop them. You don’t do it through an asylum procedure which doesn’t work and under pressure instead of refusing Asylum applications and sending people back to where they came from, they’re accelerating the acceptance of asylum applications simply to get the backlog down so that it’s not optically you know it’s not visible to the media and to the nation. But you know the people of the United Kingdom aren’t stupid, they know exactly what’s going on.

Back to Front Immigration Policy

We see these people coming into the country we see the massive bill of five and a half billion pounds to house, medically treat and feed the people who’ve entered the country illegally and people want to know what the hell is going on. Of course, the government’s got it completely back to front and I’ve been saying this as I’m sure both you and Kevin know, for three or four years now that if you wish to stop the boats you’ve actually got to physically stop the boats.

The reason border force is called border force is because they’re meant to use force to enforce our borders, they’re not meant to be a taxi service bringing people here and then hoping that a bust asylum system will result in those who illegally enter the country being deported back to where they came from.

It simply isn’t working we’ve got it all back to front and you suggested that you didn’t want to touch on the legal migration figures but the statistics out today on the legal migration figures are absolutely horrendous. It shows a country completely ungoverned borders completely open 1.4 million people given one form of Visa or another last year to come to the United Kingdom.

Those applying for a work visa up 50%, Alex from just over 400,000 to over 600,000 that is undercutting the British Workforce. We are taking in cheap unskilled labour making it impossible for the UK workforce to get a reasonable wage because there’s all this over supply from overseas and what do we get as a result of that? Six million people surviving to a greater or lesser extent on benefits in the UK.

Border Force in Disarray

The entire system for migration and the enforcement of our borders has collapsed. All his talk about being capable as an administrator, a bureaucrat, a technocrat,  Rishi Sunak cannot manage a piss up in a  brewery! Well, I’m not sure we could put it like that, Ben apologies for that fruity language. But just a recap, we’ve only got a minute or so left just to sort of encapsulate what you were saying, basically they’ve got a massive backlog 70,000 asylum seekers in the country, so the system they have adopted is just let them all stay. Grant that asylum meanwhile, I think this is really important no sense of urgency on the part of parliament or the government and as we learned yesterday people are dying in these boats.

Three people drowned yesterday, why can’t they get on with doing something about this lethal process of illegal migrants crossing the  channel? Well, it’s because they don’t have the political will to enforce our borders. People wouldn’t die in the channel if they didn’t make the journey in the first place and they wouldn’t make the journey in the first place if they knew that they would not be given the ability to cross into our territorial Waters.

If they knew that our border force and our Navy would stop them at the point of our territorial waters, turn them around and send them back to France they wouldn’t bother making the journey in the first place.

Open Borders Encourage Smugglers

It’s the open border Brigade actually who are endangering lives by suggesting that all migrants whether they’re legal or illegal should be welcome to the United Kingdom. In promoting that vision and promoting that narrative they’re encouraging people to cross the channel and put themselves in danger.

They’re encouraging the people smugglers with that kind of rhetoric. We have a system that’s an enticement now by the way.

Ben, great to talk to you but the phrase is booze up in a brewery got that? There we are, next time Ben. Thank you so much, you know I think thanks Ben, good to have you back, one thing not said enough.

I’m in at the stage now where I think we’re actually committing National suicide and cultural vandalism. One statistic is really winding me up today, social housing in London, everyone knows how expensive rent is in London, how impossible it is for people to get on the housing ladder, you know all the rest of it, really difficult place to live. Do you know what percentage of social housing is going to people not even born in this country, who have just come? Almost half, 48% of social housing in London is going into people not even born here, that’s mad.