By James Sorene

The Government has promised to fix an immigration system where the balance of deterrence and support is broken.

Too many people are coming to the UK illegally, our border controls can’t stop them and we are too lax and generous once they get here.

For modern Britain, this is the latest attempt to solve a very complex but relatively new problem. In the 1980s the world was dominated by oppressive regimes with tight borders who usually shot people if they tried to leave. The Soviet Union being the largest example.

Net migration (immigration minus emigration) to the UK averaged 4,000 people between 1980 and 1993. In 1984, 4,389 people claimed asylum. By contrast net migration was 944,000 in 2023 and in 2024 there were 108,100 asylum claims. In the 1990s as regimes collapsed into clusters of smaller states and civil wars, combined with rapid advances in technology and communications spurred mass migration.

The UK’s basic and small scale immigration and asylum system has been struggling ever since to keep up with bursts of booming asylum applications from people fleeing brutal conflicts or upheaval in new breakaway states.

As asylum........

© LBC