The government has made stopping the small boats crossing the channel one of its five pledges on which to fight the next election. With opinion polls showing a continuing slump in support, will this turn out to be a political masterstroke, or a further blunder from a doomed administration? I seek the advice of Mandy, the hairdresser.
Wednesday 8 March
9.00am
Seems to me this is a dog-whistle issue that triggers strong reactions rather than informed debate. This morning, I made that mental note as Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 was beginning a phone-in programme on the boat issue. I hear him use precisely that same metaphor.
His guest, a Conservative MP, had been selected as having concerns over the legislation.
‘People want to tell you you are wrong, They want to have a fight with you not debate it’ she says.
The other guest, a Sun reporter, says it’s important for her readers, and that they mostly support the planned legislation.
Callers to the program who followed also seemed mostly in favour of what I had described as a dog-whistle proposition.
One read out his prepared contribution. He concentrated on the millions of pounds being wasted on court cases, giving as an example the one involving a person who said he wanted to stay in the country because of his cat.
Another used the ‘Britain is full’ argument, with the increasingly difficulties of arranging an appointment with a doctor, ambulance time waits, lengthening hospital waiting lists etc.
A spokesperson for Conservative Home said action needed, but the Government intends to open up legal routes. People are jumping the queue. Any sensible Govt has to look after its own people first.
At which point the discussion fell into squabbling. Campbell’s attempts to promote sequential rather than simultaneous contributions were not entirely successful.
Perhaps in microcosm, the programme captures the heat and intensity of this debate, and the difficulty of changing fixed beliefs other people hold.
10.00am
Campbell, anything but a quitter, now has a further hour of discussion with MPs and phone-in callers. Calm is now restored. The MPs start more politely, but quickly deteriorate into interrupting and disagreeing with each other.
I leave for a close encounter with a hairdresser’s clippers, comforted that I had heard enough for the moment. But there the matter did not rest.
