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The government may talk about “invasion” and want to curb illegal arrivals, but the figures show that the country receives few asylum seekers compared to its European neighbours.
Refugees arriving in dinghies on the British coast: for several years, the image has regularly been on the front page of British newspapers in all its guises. A record was broken on 13 November: a few hundred arrivals brought to 40,000 the number of people crossing the Channel to reach Britain this year. In 2021, the total number was 28,526. On 24 November this year, exactly one year ago, 27 exile candidates, including six women and a little girl, drowned in the English Channel. In 2018, there were only 299 to try the trip. London has therefore just signed an agreement with France, from where these canoes depart. The UK government will pay more than €72 million in 2022-2023 to help French authorities prevent the boats’ departure by strengthening patrols, information sharing and cooperation.
The phenomenon is not new, this agreement and the financial assistance are not the first. But as the numbers rise, the Tory government’s rhetoric is fueling hatred of the queer
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