Curious to see how Starmer tackles the channel crossing problem. This policy was a gimmic but there were some signs that it was affecting migrant flows with more people appearing in the Republic of Ireland to claim aslyum. Additionally the scheme that Australia ran - which was much more brutal than the Rwanda scheme - did ultimately reduce small boats crossings to practically 0 within a few years. I think they might still even have people detained in Papa New Guniea like 15 years after their scheme ended.
Faster processing might help reduce the backlog but when people are coached as to what they need to say to be granted asylum claims it is borderline impossible to stem the 'pull' factor from that avenue alone. Often migrants arrive without their documentation so returning them to their country of origin becomes difficult since the countries want proof that the person is actually a citizen.
Pretty much the only way you can curb the issue without a 3rd country scheme is to get the French authorities to stop the boats before they set off. This is logistically challenging given the length of the coastline. Arresting the traffickers will only do so much when there is a lot of potential profit to be made.
idk willing to give Starmer a chance and trust him on this one. It's a high profile and visible issue that a lot of the electorate care about. He needs to get on top of it to keep Reform from capitalising on it.