The Telegraph: Farage pledges to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants
It is the 50th anniversary of a comedy series that many Reform voters surely love: Fawlty Towers. To channel this, a future Reform government has as much chance of expelling hundreds of thousands of migrants as sending back a Waldorf Salad (that isn’t one). It simply ain’t going to happen. It is even less likely to happen than the £350m saving per week as championed by the Vote Leave bus. But what is even more relevant Reform, whether it is aware of the reasons why, or is simply trying to get further ahead in the polls, is why. The logical conclusion of this is whether the party actually knows its pledge would be impossible to deliver, and is carrying on regardless?
It’s obviously been a great year for Reform currently leading in the polls and laying waste to both the previously denied full-on socialism of Labour, concealed as incompetence, and the waiting for an apple to fall out of the tree approach of the Conservatives.
Upping The Ante
In the wake of the Unite the Kingdom protest some days ago we see Nigel Farage’s party upping the ante as far as what is rapidly becoming the top concern amongst voters of all persuasions. This is apparently whether they are in favour of mass immigration or against it: either panicked into wanting it stopped, or panicking that it might be stopped.
We have been treated to a very 1930s style deportation headline in The Telegraph since yesterday on its website. It has been featuring a picture of Farage in a now rather contentious pose given that he has the backdrop of a Union Flag behind him. Presumably, armed officers knocking on his front door cannot now be ruled out for this image.
But it is the promise of the headline which is the big deal. It is a promise which echoes the £350 million a week we would save if we left the EU. The headline is that mass deportation would save £234 billion if the “Boriswave” of migration was reversed. Of course, the saving if it was achieved would be welcomed by people of all political persuasions: either to heap upon the massively inefficient welfare state, or to lower the UK’s near £3 trillion national debt.
Tyranny Of Law
But as we have seen both in the case of Brexit and subsequently, the power of this country does not lie with politicians. It lies with the civil service if one is generous, but ultimately with the courts. We have rule of law, fast becoming tyranny of law.
Indeed, politicians are about as likely to get right of centre policies fulfilled these days then King Canute was in being able to turn the tide. In fact, it is even worse than that. We have already seen in the case of the Epping hotel how quickly the “wrong” (non-Left) decisions in the courts, in this case the High Court are reversed – by the Court of Appeal. And of course all of this has been highlighted by the fiasco regarding “one in, one out, which appeared to be a fiasco even before it became one.
The Blob
Nearly 10 years after Brexit we now that there is no such thing as there being the will of the people, or even the will of Parliament. It is all in the hands of the judiciary and its stooges the civil service (The Blob). Indeed, it would be better if the conspiracy theorists were right and it really was the World Economic Forum, as at least one could blame external forces.
In the case of the idea of mass deportations, this is a wonderful sounding headline. But how would it be enforced? How would you round up illegal immigrants? Would you wander the streets looking for them? Would not every case be contested in the courts, funded by legal aid?
Won’t Get Fooled Again
Fully marks to Reform getting on the front foot a time when we all back to work/back to school in September, and into the party conference season, with a punchy policy move. Unfortunately, there may be many scenarios associated with it, but a £234 billion saving will not be one of them. We did not get any of the policies either promised from Brexit, or even the benefits there should have been, and this will be no different.
At this point it seems wise and appropriate to channel the song by the English rock group The Who, many of whose fans would be in the Brexit/Reform camp. One of their most famous songs was “Won’t get fooled again”. In this instance with the mass deportation concept, it is even less likely than Brexit benefits, even with a triple digit majority for Reform, which it will not get, that it would ever happen.
Instead, it is another initiative which simply rattles the cage and raises the hopes of those who have suffered under successive UK governments diluting the culture and heritage of this country in the name of economics, fairness, or progress.
