It is quite instructive that since the announcement of the plans for a cap on the number of asylum seekers the phone at the Conservative Association in Kingston & Surbiton has been ringing with people wanting to tell us how much they support it. Not party members, just members of the public.
Whatever else happens the status quo is not acceptable and the Government itself accepts this since they were remarkably quiet and commented little since the announcement. The Lib Dems clearly have a policy that says we will take as many people into this country as those who want to come here, this is clearly not in the interest of either the people of this country or those who have a genuine claim to come here. The Lib Dems were quick to critiscise and have since tried to spin the idea that genuine refugees would be turned away.
The fact Parliament will vote on a quota figure every year means that the figure will be based on real demand. Were there an international crisis then of course Parliament could review that figure. Surely it is better for MP's to set and monitor the figure rather than allow the free flow we have now. It would certainly be better than surrendering powers to an EU wide asylum system that the Lib Dems want.
This is a complex area in which no one system will be right. But a system that misleads refugees as to what and what is not available to them is not a system we should be associated with. The current system is misleading and confuisng to both those that live in this country and those that seek to come here. From confusion can grow resentment.
A system based on clarity and transparency with figures set as to the total number of refugees we as a nation will accept might help create a more accepting attitude to genuine refugees but will also be a humanitarian way of dealing with them.
As for this Government signing away controls over immigration to the EU? What a surprise that after all the rhetoric we had from Labour over getting tough on asylum and immigration they now reveal the extent to which they have handed over powers to Europe without even noticing. Clearly work is going to need to be done to get those powers back!
8 comments:
"Clearly work is going to need to be done to get those powers back!"
I speak as a conservative but unfortunately an ex Conservative voter, Yes but if the work does not include in full, the lengths that will be required and the lengths the leader will go, to return those powers, then they are meaningless, for me the days of giving my trust to the Conservative party are over, I now need to see real cast iron promises, that not only will an attempt be made, but that an outcome will be guaranteed that a Consevative government will allow nothing to stand in its way to return these and other promised powers back to the full power of the British Parliament. I will then be able to vote for a party that offers the British people a true government of this country. Gone are the days of trusting British Politicians to put British people first.
Who else is going to deliver?
Labour - obviously not...
Lib Dems - Ha don't make me laugh
UKIP - the only thing a vote for them will bring back is a Labour Majority.
Robert Kilroy-Joke - yeah him and his Vanity...
If you have two options in this election a vote for a European Superstate, or a vote for the Conservatives.
And this time it will really count.
Wrong answer, I have two options at the election vote for a party that has not promised to stop the rot, or one that has, even though the one that has will be lucky to win a seat. If I vote for Conservative that is not a vote to stop the rot. The party in the house is beginning to move in the right direction but it really makes no difference if we are only debating the speed in obtaining the EU destination; it is the direction that needs changing. When the Commision tells a British political party that their policy is unacceptable and that there is nothing that can be done, that party has two choices make plans that will effectively, I repeat effectively remove the threat or knuckle under.
I voted UKIP at the Euro elections, because I don't want a European Superstate. The proportional voting system meant that this vote would count, and result in UKIP members in the Euro parliament who would vote down everything federal, cause a stink. It was an effective protest, and spanner in the works. AND it shook up the Tories so they know they will have to be more anti-EU.
I will be voting Conservative in the general election, because like you say they are heading in the right direction. I agree they aren't all the way there, but i will still vote tory, mainly because there are only two OUTCOMES a Labour Government who will push a federal agenda, and a Conservative Government who will resist, and begin to roll that agenda back.
I fear any vote that is not Conservative, will end up being for a European superstate.
Of course I will be voting "NO" in the referendum too.
I can quite see you point and really do wish you luck, however I feel that as yet the Conservatives in parliament have not really grasped the nettle, and a vote for them at this stage could be construed in fact probably would be, as acceptance of the status quo.
I want to see a return of open inclusive government with real Conservative policies; I want to see the people I elect have the power to do the best for the people without having to ask an unelected unaccountable committee. That is not possible when our government resides in Brussels, a decision needs to be made about who really runs this country and if it is going to be the EU then it does not matter who we vote for, in fact we may as well do away with parliament and go down the regionalisation route, this would bring power closer to the people, (if you measured it in miles) and do away with the talking shop in Westminster, for what good is there in discussing EU policy when they cannot do anything about it.
I was irritated to see Kevin Davis spin the Lib Dems policy on immigration: "we will take as many people into this country as those who want to come here", and then criticise them for spinning the Conservative policy. The blatant hypocrisy is somewhat galling.
And anyway, spin in politics is a fact of life. Everyone does it, the Tories, the Lib Dems, Labour, everyone. What's important is not criticising spin, but rather looking yourself for the facts behind it.
I was reading through a summary of the Conservative Party policies and was shocked to see that the Conservatives have proposed to create offshore asylum processing centres for asylum seekers. Up till now I have been a staunch Conservative but I am seriously regretting the decisions I have made. This proposal treats asylum seekers as sub-human, likening them to animals that have to be tested for disease before they come into the country. How can such an inhumane policy find its way into the Conservative party?
Clearly some spin... the enclosed is taken from the Lib Dem policy paper on immigration:
In order to respond to the needs of the British economy, Liberal Democrats
would introduce a system of quarterly quotas for migrant workers. Such as
system includes a degree of flexibility in the event that quotas fill up too
quickly. The quotas would apply to economic migrants only.
Typo is their own but so much for being against quotas.
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