Brexit leader Nigel Farage has warned that the Tories may be “doomed” at the next general election unless they deal with the migrant crisis in the English Channel, claiming that “six hundred migrants” landed in Britain on Thursday.
While Mr Farage predicted that the market town of North Shropshire, which Boris Johnson just lost to the Liberal Democrats in a by-election, will “in all probability go back to the Conservatives” at the next general election, he warned that a “bigger problem” which continues to unfold in the waters between England and France could cost the party even more seats when the country next goes to the polls.
In a video published to YouTube, Mr Farage claimed that “hours before that result was declared, the Dover lifeboat was called out by the coast guard, following 600 people who illegally crossed the English Channel yesterday”, and further alleged that by early Friday morning another four boats had already been brought into the Dover harbour.
While media reports had not corroborated Mr Farage’s claims of hundreds of illegals making it to Britain via France on Thursday, the Daily Mail had reported around 100 arrivals by Thursday afternoon. Local media outlet KentOnline also reported that “large numbers of people” had been brought ashore at the port town of Dover, while Sky News reported yesterday that “plenty” of boats are still leaving French shores — these reports coming after weeks of relative silence from the press on migrant landings.
It has been estimated that over 23,500 illegal migrants have made the crossing this year, with actual numbers most likely being higher as not everyone who crosses is caught.
Farage has suggested migration was a major worry for voters in the North Shropshire by-election which resulted in an embarrassing defeat for Conservatives, who lost the seat that they held for nearly 200 years to the Liberal Democrats.
Reports surfaced that it cost the British taxpayer an estimated £1.4 billion last year to accommodate illegal migrants.
“This is an issue not just in North Shropshire, but crucially in the Red Wall, and these are areas of voters who’ve normally been Labour,” Mr Farage said.
“Taking back control of our borders, reducing the numbers [of migrants] coming into Britain was the reason [historical Labour voters] voted Brexit, the reason they were happy to vote for the Conservatives in 2o19, and I promise you this issue is going right to the top of British politics.”
The Conservative Party’s once 80-seat majority won in 2019 was in large part delivered by former ‘Red Wall’ voters choosing to vote Conservative, some for the first time ever.
The ‘Red Wall’ refers to industrial areas of Britain, that were once home to coal mines, steel plants, and manufacturing, largely in the North of England, were where the working-class voters typically supported Labour — whose traditional colour is red.
These regions are similar to the so-called ‘Rust Belt’ in the United States.
Immigration is particularly important to Red Wall voters as their communities were disproportionately affected by the “unprecedented influx” of migrants orchestrated by Tony Blair in the late ’90s and 2000s, which has continued largely unabated under the Conservatives.
In his address, Farage once again suggested the solution to ending “huge numbers of young men” coming into Britain is to introduce an Australia-style migration system.
In 2013, former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott’s government launched Operation Sovereign Borders, under which migrant boats are intercepted at sea and either brought to offshore processing centres or returned to their country of origin. This operation helped reduce the number of migrant boats that land in the country to virtually zero.
“The Conservatives are going to be doomed at the next election unless they have a leader with the courage to deal with what’s happening in the English Channel and I don’t think it’s Boris Johnson anymore,” Farage said.
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