Re the multimillion-pound deal with the French government to police Channel coastlines to prevent migrants crossing in small boats (Report, 14 November), how much cheaper, not to say more humane, would it be to allow applications for asylum in all British embassies and consulates overseas?
This would save lives, which the government says that it wants to do, use existing organisations and buildings, and tackle at a single stroke most of the people smugglers’ trade. Furthermore, it would not only free up many police officers, but also identify people who could be fast-tracked into the jobs that the government is spending even more money on to fill by searching abroad.
Indeed, if it would process those already here, it would find there are doctors, nurses, carers, teachers and many others who are longing to work and pay taxes, rather than languish in hotels or camps like Manston, wasting their skills and lives. The only thing stopping it is Conservative hypocrisy, ineptitude and ideology.
Anne Johns
Derby
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