Labour's grotesque lies about illegal migration are finally being exposed
If he truly wanted to defuse tensions, and if he were even a half-decent politician, Starmer would make the trip to Essex and, like de Gaulle addressing the crowd in Algiers in 1958, tell the law-abiding middle class protesters in front of the Bell Hotel in Epping that he understands them.
He would order the transfer of the asylum-seekers to a better location. He would condemn extremists and agitators of all hues, far-Right as well as far-Left, and insist that all violence is intolerable. He would rebuke Essex Police, the wokest police force in the most Right-wing county, for escorting pro-migrant protestors to the Bell, stating that he opposes any notion of two-tier justice or treating one side of the debate better than the other. He would express his distaste at the booking of a four star hotel in Canary Wharf to house migrants, and demand cheaper pop-up sites be found.
In the real world, we must make do with Starmer's platitudes and untruths. Why did his social media account claim that 'we will stop at nothing to tackle illegal migration' when that is the very opposite of what Labour is doing? Starmer refuses to pull levers that might work: his priority is not stopping the boats but maintaining the human rights orthodoxy at any cost.
Yes, Starmer would love it were something to turn up and immigration, legal and illegal, were to drop – he may even get his way if Rachel Reeves bankrupts Britain – but he has no desire to pro-actively do anything radical about it.
The PM refuses to pull out of the ECHR or of the UN Refugee conventions, he is wedded to the obsolete principal of non-refoulement and he scrapped the Rwanda scheme. He won't consider jailing illegal arrivals. He will never take truly drastic action towards the people traffickers.
This newspaper revealed last week that a High Court judge, in a case brought against the Foreign Office by an Afghan living in the UK seeking to bring relatives to Britain, that 'family members' did not have to have a 'blood or legal connection' to the applicant. Down that road lies madness.
Starmer's ludicrous, ECHR compliant plan for a ' thousands in, fifty out' pilot plan with France won't work, if it is ever signed off by the EU. He tells people smugglers he 'will destroy your business model, piece by piece', at the very time they drop off yet more boatloads. His idea to crack down on illicit activity is to 'share asylum accommodation locations' with food delivery services 'so they can take action if riders are staying there.' Downing Street officials believe that Britain's social fabric is 'fraying at the edges', and yet the best the Government can do is to demand greater integration and the restoration of trust, as if that were easy. Laughably, the Prime Minister reportedly believes that his policy to improve school attendance is already improving community relations. None of this is even close to being commensurate to the scale of the crisis.
In The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a basis for social policy, Thomas Sowell, the African-American economist, explained why politicians like Starmer lose touch with reality and end up despising their electorates.
Sowell, who to her credit Kemi Badenoch often cites approvingly, divides the world into groups: the anointed elites, those we now call the woke Blob, ego-crazed idiot-savants who believe that simplistic social engineering can solve all of the world's problems, and followers of the 'tragic vision', who have the humility to understand the complexities and trade-offs inherent to human societies.
The anointed include Labour, the Corbynites/Greens, Lib Dems and the many wet Tories. Followers of the 'tragic vision' include Reform, sensible Tories (including Suella Braverman, Robert Jenrick and Jacob Rees-Mogg) and the 53 per cent of the public who tell YouGov that immigration is one of the most important issues facing Britain.
The anointed are sure they know best, and don't react well when their grand schemes to 'save humanity' – the ECHR, the Human Rights Act or open borders – go wrong. Much of this is narcissism: these elites don't care as much about the downtrodden as they do about feeling good about themselves.
The anointed, Sowell explained, operate by picking a 'mascot', a marginalised group, to champion, such as small boat migrants, while simultaneously demonising a 'target', such as ordinary 'normies' who believe immigration has gone too far.
The anointed are above all dogmatic. Their beliefs are not susceptible to auto-correction, to Popperian falsification, to feedback from reality: they simply dismiss all contrary empirical evidence. They consider themselves to be well-intentioned and morally superior, so any criticism of their axioms must be dismissed as false consciousness, prima facie evidence of racism.
So deranged, so deluded are these elites that they cannot conceive that their critics could genuinely, for non-xenophobic reasons, worry about filling hotels in residential areas with young men with no passports and no real known identity, and the risk this could pose to young girls. They can't accept that voters might genuinely be affected by housing and public services shortages exacerbated by mass migration (in a world of sluggish supply), and not be merely driven by prejudice. They cannot understand that putting up migrants in costly hotels, at a time when taxes are at record highs, is insulting to millions. They fail to comprehend why, in this context, the fact that a school banned a 12-year old girl from wearing a Union Flag dress on Culture Celebration Day, could be considered a provocation.
Starmer and Labour will never change, and neither will the rest of the anointed class. The only answer is to replace them. I have a feeling that the next election will be called sooner than many believe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
A long-term plan is needed to get the country out of its financial hole
SIR – Whether by raising income tax rates, a wealth tax or through less overt measures, the Government will try to extract more money from the people that it serves ('Reeves facing £50bn black hole as tax pressure mounts ', report, August 6). However, such measures risk being self-defeating. Those who are unable or unwilling to leave the country will bear the brunt of the tax rises. That includes standard and higher-rate taxpayers. Every pound the Government extracts from their bank accounts is a pound that cannot be spent on businesses that provide goods and services. Thus, businesses will take another hit which, in turn, will reduce their tax payments. Since the failure of the Truss administration, there has been no long-term plan to get the country out of its financial hole. Eventually, there will have to be one and it will likely involve curbing the insatiable appetite of government to control and spend. When such a plan sees the light of day we may be surprised at the boost it gives to confidence and investment. David Porter Plymouth, Devon SIR – Labour dug itself a financial hole when it pledged not to increase National Insurance (NI), VAT or income tax rates. Instead of imposing VAT on private schools and possibly even on private health, a simple 1 or 2 per cent rise on NI and/or the basic rate of income tax would have solved the Chancellor's problems. Now she is having to cast her net wider – and creating more problems as a result. John Tilsiter Radlett, Hertfordshire SIR – Taxing jobs and taxing capital is not going to result in economic growth. Is it too much to expect a former Bank of England economist to grasp this? Patrick Loxdale Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SIR – There is a limit to which any economy can be taxed. The UK is at that limit. The British public understands this. It is plain that public sector expenditure must be cut to balance the books. Given the Government throws billions around like confetti – on the Chagos Islands, the immigration fiasco, welfare, public sector pay rises, excessive numbers of civil servants – there is much low-hanging fruit. The economy is being badly managed as never before. Enough is enough. Please can we have some economic sanity. Stuart Moore Bramham, West Yorkshire SIR – Having continually criticised the Conservatives for the last 12 months for creating a £22bn black hole in the public finances, I trust Labour will now be constantly criticising itself for doubling the deficit. Paul Webster Dyserth, Denbighshire
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Nigel Farage faces Scottish revolt over trans women in female jails
Nigel Farage is facing a revolt from the Scottish wing of his party over whether trans women should ever be sent to female jails. The Reform UK leader earlier this week backed Vanessa Frake, his new justice adviser who is a former prison governor, when she said some transgender criminals should be imprisoned in women's jails. His backing is understood to have dismayed some party figures north of the border, who saw a tough stance on the issue as a vote winner ahead of the 2026 Holyrood elections. Farage later said that he had never supported men in women's prisons. Asked for clarification on their position on trans women in female jails, Reform's spokeswoman in Scotland, Claire Mackie-Brown, claimed that her party was the only one north of the border backing this year's Supreme Court ruling on the definition of woman as 'biological'. The former Scottish Conservative councillor said: 'The SNP, Labour and even fringe parties like the Tories, backed gender recognition and self-identification. 'We stand for common sense: only biological women belong in female prisons and women's spaces — no ifs, or buts.' Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative MP who was previously Reform UK's immigration and justice spokeswoman later said that it was Reform UK's policy to place some trans women in women's prisons. But she said this was only for biological males who have had their body extensively altered in gender transition surgery, for example having their penis removed and taking female hormones. She was speaking after Frake said it was wrong to have a blanket ban on trans women being held in female jails. Frake argued that any decision should be taken on an individual basis after a risk assessment but that trans prisoners she had supervised were by and large 'accepted' by the prison population. She condemned those who support a complete ban as having 'never stepped foot in a prison and seen how prison runs'. This reflects concerns in the prison service that locking up trans women who had undergone substantial physiological changes — and who had long lived as females — could be considered 'inhumane'. There have also been controversies about the incarceration of biological males who have committed serious sex or violent crimes, such as the rapist Isla Bryson, in women's facilities. For Women Scotland, the gender-critical campaign group, said: 'It's of no surprise that the Scottish branch of Reform has split with Farage and the newly appointed prisons adviser. 'They will be fully aware of the damage the idea that people can change sex has done to political parties that support it. No one should vote for a party that states from the outset that they are intending to break the law.' Farage supported Frake, saying: 'When it comes to trans women in prisons, isn't it interesting that we run our country with people who become ministers who generally have absolutely no idea of the subject matter that they're talking about. 'I personally never worked in a prison, so I can't answer it. But I think you'll find that the answer you'll get from somebody who has worked in prisons at the highest possible level is: it's basically about risk assessment, isn't it?' Farage added: 'In terms of the problems in prisons, it's a relatively small one.' The Reform leader had initially welcomed the Supreme Court ruling — which came after For Women Scotland sued the Scottish government — as a victory for common sense. The Scottish Conservatives rounded on their right-wing opponents. Tess White, the Scottish party's equalities spokeswoman, said: 'Reform can't seem to decide if they believe men belong in women's prisons or not. The Scottish branch say one thing, while Nigel Farage says another, all in the space of a few days. 'They're all over the shop but the Scottish Conservatives are clear: we will always stand up for the safety of women, no matter what silly ideas other parties have on this issue. 'It's common sense that men do not belong in women's prisons but Reform seems completely confused over this issue.' Later in a post retweeted by Nigel Farage, the Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin said: 'I would like to clarify Reform UK policy on transgender prisoners serving time in a female prison. I can assure all of you that under a Reform government, no biological male prisoner will ever serve time in a female prison. The safety of women will always be a priority for Reform.'
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Scottish council staff off sick at record rate
The level of absence among council staff is at its highest level on record as local authorities are urged to improve their workforce planning. Figures released by the Accounts Commission on Thursday showed the absence rate among non-teacher staff rose to an average of 13.9 days in 2023-24 compared with 10.8 in 2010-11. During the same time, the teacher absence rate increased from 6.6 days to 7.6 days. • We are in a new era of health in the workplace — things must change In a report the commission urged councils to plan their workforce into the future, especially given the age of staff. While 35 per cent of staff — the highest level — are between 25 and 44, a total of 27 per cent of workers are between 45 and 54. There are 29 per cent of workers aged 55 to 64. The commission said: 'Addressing rising sickness absence, embracing innovation and digital technology, and increased collaborative working will all be necessary to attract and retain staff and ensure we all continue to benefit from a skilled and motivated local government workforce.' Local authorities should align their workforce plans with their own priorities, the report said. The commission added that councils were dealing with 'clear and continuing financial pressures' and had to 'transform how they deliver services' to cut costs. 'Auditors report that councils have responded positively to these challenges but that further progress with workforce planning is still needed in light of continuing financial and demand pressures,' the report said. • Scots out of work for sickness and disability at highest level for 20 years Jennifer Henderson, a member of the Accounts Commission, said: 'We all benefit from a skilled and motivated local government workforce; staff are the most important resource that councils have. 'Councils must fundamentally reform how they deliver services, and Scotland's 260,000 council workers are crucial to this. 'Councils need to align their existing workforce plans with their priorities so they can ensure their workforces are the right size and shape, and their staff have the skills they will need. In particular, they need to ensure workers have the digital skills necessary for the scale of changes ahead. 'We have seen many councils already responding to this challenge, and there are valuable opportunities for local bodies to learn from each other.'
