August's traditional 'silly season' returned somewhat after years of Brexit-driven turmoil as UK politics this summer centred on small boats and irregular migration. Claims that asylum seekers pose a public safety threat are characterised as xenophobic scaremongering unsupported by evidence. Small-boat arrivals present major costs and pressures on public services and a strong public desire to stop them. With MPs back, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will make a Commons statement outlining plans to limit the use of Article 8 human-rights defences, provide an update on the France returns deal, and overhaul family reunion rules for those granted asylum.
August used to be known as the silly season in newspaper offices because, with little proper news happening, journalists had to resort to trivia. Then we had Brexit, and the four-week silly season got replaced by eight years of chaos. This year there has been a slight reversion to the pre-2106 norm because the UK political debate over the summer has been entirely dominated by a debate about small boats and irregular migration which has not been fully rational.
The claim that asylum seekers are posing a significant threat to public safety is classic xenophobic scaremongering, of the kind that has been a factor in British public life for centuries. (There is a good explanation of why the evidence does not support the scaremongering here.) But the issue isn't remotely silly either. Small boat arrivals are a huge policy challenge for the government, because of the costs and the pressures on public services, but above all because the public want them to stop.
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