Asylum is not working. On this most polarised of issues, that is the one thing on which everyone can agree. Dangerous journeys across the Channel can be nobody’s idea of a safe, well-managed asylum system. That more than 100,000 people have their lives on hold, most waiting more than a year for a decision, is unfair. These delays cost the taxpayer millions in hotel accommodation that is unsuitable for those housed there and which can, as we have recently seen, become a focal point for far-right violence.
What to do about asylum divides people. We have a politics increasingly polarised between tough and soft solutions: control versus compassion. The government, 12 years into power, seems to relish an increasingly heated fight with lawyers and bishops. An argument that forces people to choose control or compassion sees a third of the public in each camp, but frustrates many people who think the government’s job is to combine the two.
