Richard Holden MP called on the Government to adopt an Australian style approach to tackling migrant boat crossing in a House of Commons debate Monday 22 November 2021.
Commenting, Richard Holden MP said: “Like many constituents who have been in touch I'm sick to death of seeing the crossings in the channel and the human traffickers cashing in and I again raised the issue in the House of Commons.
We've seen applications for asylum in the UK fall from a high of 84,132 under Labour to 29,456 last year. But when many of these people are travelling through safe countries like France and Germany and then are put in small boats, it's totally unacceptable.
I'm proud of our new Australian-style points based immigration system which replaced Labour's open-door. It means that we can choose who comes to work in the UK.
But it's clear with the crossings in the Channel that more needs to be done to tackle the criminal gangs of human traffickers.
I am proud to support schemes like the Afghan Resettlement Scheme for those who have worked with our armed forces and their families. I have been happy to support us doing our bit for the genuine refugees forced out by Isis and chemical weapons attacks from Syria. But over 70% of the people turning up on small boats are fit young men trying to circumvent our immigration system and it's got to stop. And I'll keep pressing the Government to do more to make sure that it does.”
