After ‘stop the boats’, a humane and competent immigration system would be welcome

The Conservatives gave up trying to run an effective border policy – now it is Yvette Cooper’s turn

Home secretary Yvette Cooper has set a target of removing 14,000 failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals in the second half of 2024 (PA)

One of the many paradoxes of Britain leaving the European Union is that, far from taking back control of our borders, the Conservative government gave up trying to run a humane and competent system.

As prime minister, Boris Johnson sided with the radical liberal wing of the Brexit movement, which argued that leaving the EU would allow Britain to admit more people but that this could be done on our own terms, instead of being dictated by the EU law of free movement.

The problem was that Mr Johnson did not tell anyone that this was his policy, so when official figures revealed that net immigration hit 764,000 in the year 2022, it came as a surprise to most Leave voters – including his successor in No 10, Rishi Sunak.

Even from the point of view of supporters of immigration, such as The Independent, this was not ideal. British public opinion is strongly supportive of giving sanctuary to Ukrainians and Hongkongers, as well as to the smaller numbers of Afghans who served with British forces in the ultimately unsuccessful campaign against the Taliban. Public opinion is also broadly positive towards people coming to this country to work in the NHS and social care. However, the size of the increase in overall immigration undermined support for these particular categories.

Similarly, the British people are more than willing to accommodate a reasonable number of genuine refugees fleeing persecution. But the debate about what a “reasonable number” might be has been swept aside by the arrival of undocumented asylum seekers by small boats across the Channel.

In the face of these challenges, the previous government simply lost its way. It reacted to legal immigration late, and in a way that made clear that it had never given serious thought to what to do with the opportunity granted by Brexit to decide our own policy. Now that the policy of Johnsonian laxity has been thrown into reverse, there may be staff shortages in the social care sector and the crisis of universities will intensify because so many of them have come to rely on income from foreign students.

As for the small boats, the Conservatives became fixated on a policy that could never have worked and remained obsessed with it even after it had become clear that it would not work. The scheme to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda seemed to absorb so much of the time of ministers and senior officials that the rest of asylum policy almost ceased to function. Processing asylum claims slowed to a crawl and the processing of new claims from people arriving by small boat ceased altogether, leaving tens of thousands in limbo.

Crucially, the previous government allowed the number of failed asylum seekers returned to their home countries to fall, undermining confidence in the system. It was extraordinary to hear Nigel Farage, of all people, in his first speech in the House of Commons last month, praising the Blair-Brown government: “If someone came to Britain illegally during the last Labour government, their feet did not touch the ground – they were gone; they were out. None of that happens any more.”

This was not quite true – but removals were running at 46,000 a year at the end of the last Labour government, and they fell to 8,000 in 2020, after Brexit. Since then, the numbers have edged up a little, and Yvette Cooper, the new home secretary, has set a target of removing 14,000 failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals in the second half of this year.

This is a welcome refocusing on the basics. The Independent wants a fair and humane immigration policy, including for refugees. But this depends on the ability to return those who do not qualify. As for the small boats, the most effective policy would be a returns agreement with France and the EU. That is not likely to happen soon, as the French caretaker government has other priorities.

But it is a relief that Ms Cooper at least has her priorities right: constructing a humane, firm and above all competent immigration policy.