Want to stop people smugglers? Open safe and legal routes. Speaking to BBC #PoliticsLive earlier this week about the asylum system
"I think the issue about small boats is, that is the system our laws have created. There are no safe routes. If you are fleeing persecution or war in Iran or Afghanistan, there is no safe route to get you to the UK. Now that is appalling, because we recognize that there is a war in Iran, we recognize there is persecution in Afghanistan under the Taliban. We've spent 20 years fighting the Taliban, for goodness sake. We know it's an oppressive regime. There is no safe route. So what it does is give power to people like that man in Leicestershire, who shouldn't be here, I agree. But he was getting people here who were fleeing persecution and war, who had no other means of doing it. And dozens of people have drowned every year in the channel trying to get safety after fleeing persecution and war. That is not an acceptable situation. So we do need to change our asylum system. I agree it's not working, but that does mean opening safe routes so that people who are genuine refugees can get here safely without risking their lives and without having to bribe criminals to get here. That is a sensible asylum policy and that's what we need."
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Want to stop people smugglers? Open safe and legal routes. Speaking to BBC #PoliticsLive earlier this week about the asylum system
