Have you ever had the feeling that our country is changing more rapidly than ever before? Well, you might be onto something. According to some remarkable figures released by the Office for National Statistics this week, the number of residents of England and Wales born outside the UK has more than doubled in just 20 years – from 4.2 million in 2001 to more than 10 million in 2021.

Even more striking is the fact that 42% of them have arrived in the UK since 2011, during a time when Conservative-led governments have repeatedly promised - and failed - to reduce net immigration.

Meanwhile, 2022 is proving to be a record year for the number of people entering the UK via small boats across the English Channel – almost 40,000 this year, compared to just over 8,000 as recently as 2020.

Of course, some, perhaps many, of these people are fleeing war and persecution in their home countries. But many clearly are not, and in any case their point of departure is France, which last time I was there was a calm and peaceful country.

The Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “Many of them are facilitated by criminal gangs. Some are members of criminal gangs." PIC: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Take for example migrants from Albania, which although poor by UK standards, is a tranquil country that has not seen armed conflict for a quarter of a century.

Until recently the number of Albanian migrants crossing the channel was little more than a trickle – an estimated 50 made it to the UK by this method in 2020.

This year the figure is more than 12,000. According to Dan O’Mahoney, the Border Force clandestine threat commander, this represents between one and two per cent of the entire adult male population of Albania.

Mr O’Mahoney told the Home Affairs Select Committee that this “exponential” rise was driven by criminal gangs involved in the drug trade, human trafficking, guns and prostitution.

He added that: “There are a large number who are deliberately gaming the system.”

In other words they are not the sort of people likely to make any positive contribution to our society. And it is costing us – the taxpayers – around £7m a day to put migrants up in hotels.

The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said: “Many of them are facilitated by criminal gangs. Some are members of criminal gangs.

“So let’s stop pretending they are all refugees in distress. The whole country knows this is not true.”

Immigration can be a force for the good. Some of the most successful countries around the world, such as the United States and Australia, were built on the enterprise and hard work of immigrants, and past waves of legal immigration have benefited the UK hugely.

But such rapid increases in population driven by uncontrolled immigration has a destabilising impact on society and makes successful cohesion more difficult, as well as piling pressure on services such as housing, the NHS and education.

Most people in the UK would favour a fair system that gives refuge to those fleeing for their lives, but which can also weed out the criminals and quickly send them packing. What voters don’t like is the lack of control and the feeling of growing chaos.

The current system is not doing this. Just 4 per cent of those coming to the UK via the Channel in 2021 have received decisions on their asylum claims, and the chance of deporting failed claimants is tiny.

Mrs Braverman seems to get this. She said recently the system is broken. But she seems just the latest Conservative Home Secretary who does not seem to be able to do anything about it.

To be fair, any proposals the government makes to improve matters are immediately shouted down by Labour and the left, who have no solutions to offer themselves.

For example the much-criticised plan to send migrants to Rwanda has been delayed by legal challenges, and any flight to return foreign criminals to their home countries is beset and delayed by similar unwarranted legal claims.

But we won’t know if the Rwanda plan would work, unless we try it, and there doesn’t seem to be many other bright ideas on offer from any point of the political spectrum.

One thing is clear – this issue will become a key battleground in the next General Election in 2024 or 2025. If the government can make some progress towards a fairer and more efficient system, the Conservatives will be in a much stronger position against Labour, which is rightly seen as weak on illegal immigration. But if the problems persist, or get even worse, the Tories can say goodbye to any recovery in the polls.

Getting a grip on the migrant crisis will put the Conservatives in a much stronger position - Bill Carmichael