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Curbing the power of judges in asylum cases to tackle the migrant hotel crisis is a typical Keir Starmer response to a problem.
The former director of public prosecutions would appear to see overhauling court procedures and the legal process as the answer to any tricky situation.
Yes, the proposed fast-track asylum appeals process is fine as far as it goes. But for a government confronted with a massive migrant crisis, opponents claim it’s mere tinkering.
And welcome and worthy as it is, it isn’t going to “smash the gangs”, stop the boats or act as a powerful deterrent to the people smugglers plying their trade in the Channel.
As protests outside migrant hotels grow noisier and clashes between rival demonstrators become potentially violent, do we hear this cry from the voters: “What do we want? An independent commission of professional adjudicators! When do we want it? As soon as legislative time allows!”
Of course not.
Even those who don’t agree with Nigel Farage’s apparent indifference – in his Times interview this weekend, to asylum seekers sent back to Afghanistan being killed or tortured by the Taliban – are demanding bolder and more radical measures from the government.
And those who tire of the shadow home secretary Chris Philp’s constant criticisms of the government would probably accept that attempts to stop the boats in the Channel are not just useless but farcical.
On a visit to the Channel earlier this month, Mr Philp said: “There’s a boat full of illegal immigrants crossing right in front of me. The French warship is escorting it and making no attempt at all to stop it.”
Later, assessing his trip, Mr Philp said: “The people-smuggling conveyor belt is now a round trip, paid for by British taxpayers.
“We were in the middle of the Channel, just on the UK side of the border, witnessing the French handing over two boatloads of illegal migrants, Border Force picking them out, providing a taxi service back to the…
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