Open Letter to Tim Farron (LibDem leader) about his unvaluable contribution to the Calais Immigration debacle

I've not been impressed so far with Tim Farron's leadership of the LibDems.  I'm not impressed with the semi-homophobic expression of his "Christian values" in his voting record, and I'm significantly piqued that when he has the chance to make a positive policy contribution to national debate on the Calais illegal immigration problem, he just joined Labour's Harriot Harwoman in belly-aching about the PM's use of the word "swarm" (which seemed a very apt description to everybody I've spoken with).  So here's a copy of my letter of indignation to him.

Dear Tim

I have long supported the Liberal Democrats, and continued to support Lib Dems in the last election.  But I am becoming increasingly alienated from your party, and about ready to jump.  I was particularly unimpressed with your recent response to David Cameron's comments.  This quote from the Lib Dem website:

"By blaming ‘migrant swarms’ for the current crisis in Calais David Cameron risks dehumanising some of the world’s most desperate people. We are talking about human beings here, not insects."

Stepping back: I do not have a problem with EU migration. I have had the pleasure of working in different European countries in the past, and I am delighted to welcome others from the EU. I've found them to be friendly, work hard, integrate into British society, and add to the cultural wealth of the country.

But I'm really fed-up with the situation in Calais, and don't understand why it's happening. It's costing us a great deal of money and inconvenience (in policing, detention, economic opportunities represented by the thousands of delayed and stranded lorries, and making it very difficult for British tourists to go on holiday and for other visitors to visit the UK).

The illegal immigrants in Calais are exactly as David Cameron said: they are "a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain".

Instead of taking the opportunity to become indignant about the use of the word "swarm" (which everybody I've spoken to seems to think is a highly appropriate word), you should be contributing positive ideas of how to solve the problem.

My own point of view is this: if migrants claim asylum, then as far as I understand they are bound to do so at the first safe country they reached. France is not a country from which they need to seek refuge.  So I don't see what our obligations are under the Geneva Convention. Either they arrive without having having registered as refugees (in which case we take them back to the country they started from) or they have already registered as a refugee (in which case we take them back to France (or wherever).  If they come back again we take them back to their home country whether they've applied for refugee status or not. What is the complication I'm missing?

I don't believe I'm un-libertarian about this: there are plenty of genuine refugees and they mostly land in Greece or Italy.  We need to help fund the process of establishing whether they're genuine refugees and help provide refuge for a fair share of those who are.   But our policy just seems crazy.  Apparently we care when they die in rickety boats at sea, but we don't care when they die in much greater numbers in their home countries.  Why the inconsistency?

I think what really upsets me is that these illegal immigrants tend to be the people who do not share British values, who do not integrate into British society but segregate themselves in religion-based ghettos, and who think Britain needs to change to accommodate them.

I think you'll find I'm in the majority of the dwindling number of Liberal Democrats: I hate that the Conservative party seems to wave around UKIP's flag about uncontrollable EU immigration, when *most* immigration is still of the kind we *can* stop - the non-EU immigration.  And it's not that I'm anti non-EU immigration either; but please correct me if I'm wrong: the immigrants we seem to take in in greatest numbers seem to be exactly those with the greatest divergence from Western values and the ones who for whom we are paying disproportionately through the welfare state.

It really does seem up-side down.

Why  are you making unhelpful comments instead of saying "David Cameron is damned right it's a problem, and [these] are the policies he should be adopting to fix the problem!".  If you want to re-build in opposition, then for pity's sake have some policies and promote them.  Don't just carp about trivial vocabulary used by other party leaders.

Yours sincerely