Channel migrants policy will never satisfy Archbishop of Canterbury – Yorkshire Post Letters

AS Boris Johnson tries belatedly to get a grip on the migrant situation, his efforts will be dogged at every turn by the likes of Justin Welby (Andrew Vine, The Yorkshire Post, November 23). They seem impervious to the fact that literally billions of people would be substantially better off were they able to settle in the UK, but any welcome and the advantages which drew them here would be eroded far short of this.

It is reasonable to ask the Archbishop of Canterbury how many people he would let in and how he would select these fortunate ones or, more bluntly, who he would turn away. But it is futile to seek his endorsement of any restrictions when his delicate conscience will always impel him to help one more family through. Any system will be broken unless such sentiment is overruled.

It is argued that we all arrived here as waves of migrants, but each resisted those who came after. Never before have we been compelled by our leaders to help those trying to colonise our territory. Assistance to migrants is a matter of personal conscience, rather than national interest. It should be funded (if at all) through voluntary charitable contributions from the willing, not taxes levied on those opposed to such migration.

From: Bob Watson, Baildon.

SO, over 23,000 people have arrived illegally in the UK this year after crossing the Channel in small boats, with only five returned to Europe (The Yorkshire Post, November 18).

All these people were already in a safe country, where they should have claimed asylum, and had no need to risk their lives crossing the Channel. As such, none should be allowed to claim asylum here. This message has to be got across to hopefully discourage this unacceptable practice.

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