Labour ministers have no grasp of even the most basic facts on migration
That this Labour Government has no useful ideas for resolving the migrant crisis can be taken as a given. What has been harder to explain has been its lack of enthusiasm for finding viable solutions beyond simply repeating a vague pledge to 'smash the criminal gangs'.
A curious statement from Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, has offered a potential explanation: it may simply be that nobody in the party has bothered looking at who is actually crossing the Channel. Appearing on Question Time, Mr Jones claimed that 'the majority of the people in these boats are children, babies and women'.
This is wrong. In the latest 12 months of data, 74 per cent of those arriving in small boats have been adult men over the age of 18. Given that the British state's ability to assess the age of arrivals is not entirely uncontested, and the advantages to asylum claimants who fall just below that critical threshold, this may well be an understatement.
If senior figures in the Government believe the inflow to consist of vulnerable women and babes in arms, a great deal of policy decisions begin to make more sense; the lack of concern at distributing unvetted arrivals throughout the country, the apparent confusion that locals may feel threatened or unsafe as a result, and the apparent refusal to countenance any policy that might realistically see arrivals removed.
When challenged on his claim by Reform's Zia Yusuf, Mr Jones doubled down. His Government may wish to do some research before doing so with its current, failed approach.
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