"Stop The Boats is just a slogan - not a solution"

Take Back Control has become Stop The Boats, the latest three-word slogan designed to grab headlines. But like its predecessor, it makes no sense, writes Eva Simpson

Back in the House of Commons on Tuesday evening, MPs reversed 20 changes that had been requested (

Image: PA)

The B-word (remember that?) was meant to regain control. Immigration control and control of our borders. Yet seven years after Brexit and nothing like this has happened.

In fact, it seems to have the opposite effect. Despite the rhetoric, thousands more people than ever are attempting the perilous Channel crossing and who knows how many desperate people are trying to enter by truck again.

Take Back Control became Stop The Boats, the latest three-word slogan designed to make headlines. But like its predecessor, it makes no sense.

And the funny thing is, everyone knows it. The Stop Boats Policy, or to give it its title as the Illegal Migration Bill, appeared to be unraveling when it reached the House of Lords, where peers reasonably demanded a series of amendments.

Returning to the House of Commons on Tuesday evening, MPs reversed 20 changes that had been requested. More than a dozen senior Tory MPs, including former prime minister Theresa May, lined up to defend a number of amendments, criticize the bill and ask ministers to consider a different approach.

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If the government has its way, migrants who have been exploited would not be exempt from deportation and, as May put it, this would "allow more slave drivers to operate and earn money through human misery".

She said they tell women forced into prostitution 'it doesn't matter if you've been to hell'. This would mean there would be a legal obligation for the UK to detain and deport illegally arriving migrants - either to Rwanda or to another 'safe' country.

And any migrant arriving by small boat or truck, even those fleeing danger, would be considered 'illegal'. The Court of Appeal has already ruled that Rwanda is not a safe third country.

Even if the bill does eventually pass, it will do nothing to deter often desperate people from paying gangs for a chance at a better life. What do they have to lose?

Isn't it time to stop the prank? This is a global problem that requires global solutions, not cheap ones. The complex issues that drive migration need to be resolved and we need a system that is first and foremost as fair and humane as possible.