The Most Obvious Solution to the Migrant Crisis

 Today, it is being widely reported that a protest from fishermen on 25th November attempted to stop a lifeboat from launching to save people in distress in the sea in Hastings. This is a move that has seen considerable support on social media from a great many people, usually on the right. But it is safe to say that those who were shocked about this event were in the minority. This raises one question.

Have we lost our minds?

Given other events that the news has focussed on in recent weeks, it does not take a genius to figure out that the fishermen were trying to stop the lifeboat because those that it intended to rescue were migrants. For some reason, this is seen as completely acceptable and not literal attempted murder. If protestors tried to block ambulances from leaving hospitals because they feared that the paramedics were to tend to immigrants, would that be acceptable? It is surely not different for any other emergency service.

There is an obvious solution to stop the small boat crossings of the Channel. It is not making it more difficult to do so. It is not blocking lifeboats so that those making the crossings are more likely to drown. It is not writing letters to the French without accompanying it with action. It is not lining the beaches of Folkestone with police or smashing up camps in Calais.

It is providing a safe means of travel to Britain.

Many of the migrants attempting to come to the UK in these dangerous boat crossings already have a right to live in the UK, but not the right paperwork to travel to the UK. But whether or not someone has the right to be here should not determine whether or not we let them drown in the Channel. In particular, whether someone has the right to live in the UK is often not determined until after they arrive - in fact, until it is determined, they are not even breaking immigration law in being in the UK. So why, then, do we make it impossible to travel legally to a place where they are allowed to be legally?

I understand that because people broadly agree with the fishermen in Hastings, this is not an easy sell electorally. But, when it comes to saving lives, that should not matter. The government already thinks it can score political points by causing a diplomatic row with the French (which, to be fair, is something that Macron uses to score political points - the row exists to benefit both governments) - so why not use those political points to offset a policy that would make a meaningful difference to the crisis.

Providing safe passage is the only way to save these lives. Every day the government refuses is another day they have blood on their hands.