devilish dilemma for this government. In
fact, two uh both of which opposing the
fundamental political problems for this
administration going into the next
political year which of of course is
just about to get started with the party
conference season already looming into
view and that is of course both the
economy which we're going to discuss
about yet more bad figures for the
chancellor Rachel Reeves with inflation
climbing to a 19-month high today but
also of course this question around
small boats and migration. small boats,
of course, irregular migration, illegal
migration, asylum seeking, whatever you
want to call it, a relatively small part
of the overall migration picture, 30,
40,000 or so. When you compare that to
the overall net migration numbers, which
have any been anywhere between half a
million and nearly a million over the
past few years, it is only a small
component, but it is the most
emotionally reolent component. There can
be no doubt about that because the
pictures that we've seen for some years
now of people clamoring into small boats
across the channel, dangerous, deadly,
lethal. I've reported many times myself
from Northern France. I've spoken to
many, many of the people there. I've
spoken to some of the smugglers who
operate there. It projects the
impression of a government which is not
in control of its borders. Ironically
enough, if they were simply invited in
without any of the pictures being
broadcast, the actual image of control
would be stronger and better. But the
idea and pictures that it conveys of
complete lack of control and lawlessness
has become a massively emotional touch
touchstone issue in British politics.
We've seen that and of course yesterday
with the ruling in the high court that
one of the principal remedies to arrest
this problem or at least to put it into
obeyance for any particular period which
is the use of asylum hotels because
you've got to put these people
somewhere. We don't want to get into a
situation as we have in some European
countries as indeed there is in northern
France as I say I've been there many
times. Any of you who have been there as
well recognize this. People living in
squala, people living in tents, no
sanitation, no sewage, just simply
living in the woods and forests of the
areas around Dunkirk and Calala and the
Grand South camps out there. It's
horrendous. It's awful. The local
residents in Northern France hate it.
People just wandering around along the
motorway with trolley full of their
clothes, kids, possessions, all of it.
Old people, young people, everyone in
between alike, families. It's a
terrible, horrible site. don't want
that. We don't want to be the sort of
country with those sorts of people just
roaming around the streets in that way.
Not least because of the potential
dangers to public safety it might
convey. So what have the government been
forced to do? Not just just this
government but the government before it.
Well, they have very few options because
we have very limited social housing
accommodation available. Most councils
are already extremely hardressed. So and
what how did we end up? We ended up with
the use of asylum hotels. No one wanted
it. No one wants them around them. No
government wants to pay for it. It's an
enormous cost, but it's been the least
bad option for some years. It may now no
longer be or we may be on the path to at
least it not being the sort of option
that it has been in the past. Silent
Karma's asylum plans basically plunged
into turmoil after that high court
ruling yesterday, blocking people
seeking refuge from being housed in that
Essex hotel. Eping Forest District
Council granted an interim injunction on
Tuesday to stop asylum seekers from
being placed at the Bell Hotel on the
basis of a relatively obscure bit of
legislation from 1987 on a basis
essentially of planning law. A reminder
there were about 200 hotels housing
30,000 asylum seekers at the end of
March. Insiders at the Home Office have
admitted to various newspapers reporting
today that the department has been left
reeling by the ruling. The department is
obliged, of course, to house those
asylum seekers until their cases are
assessed. Reacting to the judgment, the
border security minister, Angela Eagle,
has said, "We will carefully consider
this judgment. As this matter remains
subject to ongoing legal proceedings, it
would be inappropriate to comment
further at this stage." Of course, this
hotel, you will be aware, has been at
the center of violent far-right protests
since an asylum seeker was charged with
sexually assaulting a 14year-old girl.
Those charges have been denied and is
the person involved is due to stand
trial later this month. The second man
who was staying at the site has
separately been charged, a Syrian
national with seven offenses. Several
men have been charged over alleged
disorder outside the hotel. And of
course the point of this, the reason
this is germaine is not just because of
what's happened in Eping, but of course
there is every possibility that this
could now this legal action could be
expanded to other asylum hotels which
could leave the government with a really
difficult, invidious, horrendous
situation.
What do you do with these people? No one
would want to start here. In an ideal
world, these people would have been
processed long ago and either allowed to
stay in the United Kingdom or they would
have been sent back to wherever they
came from. As we know, the home office
asylum system has been has been poor for
years. It was particularly poor under
the last government. To be fair, the the
speed has improved a little bit under
this government, but nonetheless, it
still takes a very long time to process
people in the system. We know that
despite the fact that the last
government said stop the boats, they
couldn't. We know that Karma has said
that he wants to smash the gangs. He
hasn't. This is a little bit like the
international drug trade. Governments
come along. They say they're going to
smash it. They say they're going to have
a war on it. And the truth is is it is
like whack-a-ole. You get rid of one
thing or one group or one gang, another
one pops up in its place. Why? Because
it is supply and demand. It is a
marketplace for people. And as long as
that demand exists and as long as that
supply exists then you will have a
trade. Remember the small boats thing
replaced something else. Again it's like
whack-a-ole. Small boats came along
actually because the government previous
governments have been very successful in
clamping down on the preoccupation of
the early 2000s. Many of you will
remember it. People clamoring in on
lorries. But thanks to improvements in
technology that's largely been done away
with. Not entirely but largely. What
happened? the people smugglers. They
found a new way of doing it. They
started doing small boats. And guess
what? Every country in Europe's got this
problem. Italyy's got a huge problem.
Greece has got a huge problem. Turkeyy's
got a huge problem. Spain's got a huge
problem. France has got a huge problem
because there are people from poorer
parts of the world either for reasons of
political persecution or because they
want to get a better life for themselves
and their families who will pay good
money to try and come here. That doesn't
make it right. It doesn't make it legal.
It's just a fact. And in the meantime,
we've got to have somewhere to put these
people. And we can say that we don't
want these hotels. And I totally
understand why people do not want them
in their community. I completely
understand that. But I just don't know.
If we're not going to do this, what are
we going to do because ultimately
they've got to go somewhere at least
while they're processing. So my
challenge to you this morning is if you
don't like these hotels, I want to hear
from you about where these people should
go because I don't know. I don't have an
answer because I think this is a really
difficult policy problem. There aren't
loads of social housing places available
and presumably we want those to go to
people who are indigenous to to to to
this to these islands. So
where do we put these people? Because we
don't want them on the streets. That's
surely not an option. Where do we put
the kids? Where where do we put them?