Britain has lessons to learn from Germany

Scenes of masked men dressed in black protesting at Dover and Portsmouth at the weekend against the arrival of migrants were shocking. We do not want to see our streets taken over by self-styled vigilantes seeking to perform a task they say the authorities have ducked. But the activities of groups like Patriot Platform, which claims to have organised the protests, are a symptom of a wider problem, namely the failure of successive governments to stop the arrivals. The Government claims it is gradually doing so, citing a 40 per cent fall in migrants coming by boat this year. But the numbers are still higher than when Labour took power. Similarly, ministers claim to be removing a record number of failed asylum seekers but most of these leave voluntarily, often with a payment from the taxpayer. When it comes to the small boats, the country can see what is happening. The smugglers are using bigger boats to bring more migrants across the Channel on even longer routes. Around 140, mostly young men, made a 70-mile crossing from Normandy escorted by French ships and helicopters into British territorial waters. Once ashore they are taken for processing and accommodated in hotels or in open camps, not detained. The great majority are not real asylum seekers fleeing persecution but are treated as such despite having already been in safe countries like France. The last government's Rwanda scheme was repealed by Labour but no alternative deterrent was forthcoming. If ministers want to see what happens when voters get tired of unfulfilled promises about migration they need only to look to Germany and the worrying advance of the AfD.