Excluding many young pro-democracy activists, coupled with the prolonged waiting period for asylum seekers, paints a grim picture of incompetence and ignorance by officials overseeing the process.
The Foreign Secretary ought to say something to mark the crossing of a new red-line: the labelling of British citizens as criminal in Jimmy Lai’s sham trial.
The Government can now at last claim consistency, and at least enter the next election arguing, with more of a straight face, that it has tried to deliver migration.
Today Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, sees his thousandth day in prison. But the shadow of the Chinese security state stretches much, much further.
Political instability in America related to the legal cases against Donald Trump is the kind of phenomenon that a nation unfamiliar with democracy can misconstrue as weakness.
Whether it is foreigners at risk in China from the regime’s injustice – and “hostage diplomacy” – or the threat to our institutions at home, we need to wake up to the dangers of the Beijing dragon.
Why not conceive of the state as essentially a regulator and provider of services, dressed up in such odds and ends of holy writ as pass the smell test – one tax base under the NHS and the Equality Act?
“There is an extensive body of research that demonstrates the damaging effects on social trust and cohesion from uncontrolled migration.”
Users of the Government’s scheme should enjoy the same exemptions from international student fees and NHS surcharges as Ukrainian and other refugees.
Rather than agonising over whether new arrivals are fitting in, the Government instead invested in ensuring that they have the tools they need to do so.
In pursuit of the prosecution of Jimmy Lai, the pro-Beijing regime is dismantling the rule of law and breaking the Sino-British Declaration.
The High Court’s judgement earlier this week marks a major step forward in our plans and we are focused on moving ahead with the policy as soon as possible.
It may be possible to be in favour of upholding the GFA and maintaining Northern Ireland’s place in the union whilst also favouring withdrawing from the Convention, but I am struggling to see how.
The Government needs to expand the BNO visa pathway, move Hong Kong students off the exorbitant international student fees regime, and keep up sanctions on Beijing.