Was Lee Anderson right?

As a libertarian, I would never have wanted an international border to come between me and any ambition I had to seek a new and better life for myself. Nor would I want it to stop anyone else. But I would never have expected to pitch up in a different country and expect board and lodgings, all paid for by the forcible extraction of cash from its citizens, by a government all too eager to spend someone else’s money, despite the highest tax burden since WWII.

Nor would I expect said country to treat me better if I arrived illegally as opposed to catching a regular flight, available for a fraction of the cost.

Over the last couple of days, it has been Labour’s turn to pretend it has the answers to the small boat problem blighting our southern shores. They would, they say, process all Albanian claims much quicker in order to tackle the 143,000 backlog of asylum claims. With at least a third of those coming from the aforementioned country.

Labour said it would fast-track applications from countries designated safe - a list including India and Brazil as well as Albania so that "clearly unfounded" cases could be decided quickly in order to do so. In comparison, France approves just 8% of Albanian asylum claims.

It’s not the first time the opposition have voiced such a claim, however, and ran such a scheme when they were last in power, finding it troublesome to say the least and constantly bogged down by human rights lawyers.

I remain convinced that the political will is just not there on either side of the house. Labour see new voters and the Tories see cheap labour for their corporate chums. All the rest is window dressing. These are two parties working only for themselves, not for their voters. Sadly, the First Past The Post System keeps them exchanging office between them. Electoral reform is urgently needed.

Until then, as blunt speaking Conservative Lee Anderson MP surmises, we will continue to let in the least desirable elements of Albanian society – the ones who cannot get a passport and fly via Wizzair.

Martin Day - Party Secretary