Yes, before Brexit, we were able to return asylum seekers to France because under EU rules, you didn’t have the right to claim asylum in one country if you had also passed through another safe country, and guess what, France counts as safe. The French helped enforce this because they were obliged to.
But now we’re a third party country, we can no longer send them straight back, hence the massive growth in channel crossings under the Conservatives. But the Brexiteers didn’t really want to reduce migration at all, because keeping you blaming some poor person in a boat for your problems keeps you from blaming rich people and corporations for taking all your money.
I can answer that in one word: Brexit.
Yes, before Brexit, we were able to return asylum seekers to France because under EU rules, you didn’t have the right to claim asylum in one country if you had also passed through another safe country, and guess what, France counts as safe. The French helped enforce this because they were obliged to.
But now we’re a third party country, we can no longer send them straight back, hence the massive growth in channel crossings under the Conservatives. But the Brexiteers didn’t really want to reduce migration at all, because keeping you blaming some poor person in a boat for your problems keeps you from blaming rich people and corporations for taking all your money.