Darren Jones

To be fair, you do not know that Jones saw the day he visited Border Force in the Channel to see what was happening. Maybe there were boat arrivals carrying mainly women and children.

I agree that his choice of words wasn’t accurate based on overall numbers this year but the fact is that over 500 of the arrivals this year have been children.

Yusuf was not telling the truth either when he said that 90% of arrivals are adult men. The man who is now charged with auditing local government finances unde DOGE should perhaps go back to school to learn some very basic arithmetic.

Jones said:

When there are babies and children put into that position by human trafficking gangs who are coming across the Channel with skin burns from the oil in those boats, mixing with the salt sea water, I would ask any of you to look at those babies and children and say go back where you came from.

He said the government could take a "humanitarian response" whilst tackling people-smuggling gangs without politicising the issue.

Have some compassion.

Really? You think the day he was there it was all children, babies and women in the boats!! Just look at the places where these "irregulars" are housed, almost all young men.

500 were children - the total amount SO FAR this year is more than 15,000!!

The point he was making is about the vulnerabilty of children. Perhaps you don't care.

a. there is no need to shout and

b. the numbers are no different to what they have been since 2021 after the UK left the EU.

Oldwoman70

500 were children - the total amount SO FAR this year is more than 15,000!!

There will be some actual children but a lot of the young men simply claim to be underage as they know they will be treated more sympathetically.It’s a ruse.
Mainly the arrivals are male adults. Why on earth is Jones choosing to lie about it, he must know the actual figures.

This is what we all hate about politicians isn’t it, when they lie, or obfuscate or twist things.

Oreo

Oldwoman70

500 were children - the total amount SO FAR this year is more than 15,000!!

There will be some actual children but a lot of the young men simply claim to be underage as they know they will be treated more sympathetically.It’s a ruse.
Mainly the arrivals are male adults. Why on earth is Jones choosing to lie about it, he must know the actual figures.

Could we please have some links to sources for those claims? If someone 'claims' to be underage, how do you know DJ is 'lying'?

Also, why is it wrong if mainly the arrivals are men. If (God forbid) my family had to flee the UK for safe shores, I'm sure we would send the young men first, as they would be more likely to survive a hazardous journey than old people or babies, and also more likely to be able to work when they got to where they were going.

How would you organise things in your family?

Sorry - how do you know they are lying about their age, and also how do you know that DJ is lying about what h believes to be true?

Why does he believe it to be true when it clearly isn’t?
It’s long been known to arriving asylum seekers that claiming to be underage is better for their cause so of course they use it if they can.I have read of several cases in the past.
Be that as it may tho, there is no truth in what Jones has claimed.

Can we please have some links 😂

I encourage posters to do their own homework.

What someone believes to be true and what is actually true can be very different things.

True, but very worrying if someone in Jones’ position doesn’t know the actual truth.

Oh yes I generally don't give two hoots about what people believe to be true.

Me neither 😃

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yq1g0x404o.amp

As I pointed out, Jones may have been speaking of what he saw that day. Yusuf was deliberately lying.

I don't really care what the numbers are. Nobody should be refused safe haven. All arrivals have a right to have their claims for asylum assessed.

We have almost 13,000 towns and cities in England and Wales and a millions home standing empty that could be brought back in use.

Even if the same number of people arrive this year as the record under the Tories in 2022, that's fewer than four people per town. There is room.

Yusuf''s family came here to escape a country torn by civil war. That he doesn't want to afford the same protection to others is callous.

Lets stop all this Reform-driven hatred.

If you don't care about people telling the truth or not you will hand victory to Reform. But carry on.

Err, excuse me but there isn’t any hatred on here, Reform driven or otherwise.
Of course asylum seekers should be, and are, given the chance to prove themselves for asylum.
It doesn’t change the fact that what Jones said was simply wrong.The majority of boat arrivals are actually men.

You just out the blue (purple?) touch paper Silverbrooks!

I don’t think we need to have a pro/anti asylum seekers debate on this as it’s really a matter of truth and why it matters.
Someone in his position should know and must know that what he said was wrong.And yes it does matter IMO.

Yes, the majority are men but that means that there are women and children too and that is the point.

At the risk of repeating myself, we do not know what Jones saw that day.

He saw first hand the human tragedy of this and that is what he was asking for. A humanitarian response.

His lies are good lies.

Oreo

Why does he believe it to be true when it clearly isn’t?
It’s long been known to arriving asylum seekers that claiming to be underage is better for their cause so of course they use it if they can.I have read of several cases in the past.
Be that as it may tho, there is no truth in what Jones has claimed.

Sorry, but can you verify any of this?

There can be to's and fro's about who thinks what, and whether one POV is more valuable or less biased than another, but the reality is that some things are true and others aren't.

I ask again - if you were leaving a dangerous situation, who in your family would you send first, assuming that they would have to travel on an expensive and dangerous route, and that you couldn't afford to send everyone?