Nigel Farage

Thank you. But I did it because it was obvious to me what was going to happen. It was obvious that there would be a huge influx of people illegally coming to Britain across the English channel, and it would happen because we had stopped deporting people who came to Britain illegally. Perhaps the Labour party might want to reflect on the last period of Labour government, when we had Home Secretaries such as David Blunkett, who was far, far to the right of people like the shadow Home Secretary today. If someone came to Britain illegally during the last Labour Government, their feet did not touch the ground—they were gone; they were out. Indeed, in the last year of that Labour Government, from 2009 to 2010, 50,000 people who came here illegally were deported. None of that happens any more. It did not happen under 14 years of the Conservatives and it clearly is not going to happen under this Labour Government, and I wonder why. I think we will find that it is because of the increased role of a court overseas that was set up in the wake of world war two with the very best of intentions, but that has now completely outlived its usefulness. It is, of course, the European Court of Human Rights, and it was a Labour Government who enshrined the convention into British law. We will not stop the boats, even if we sent a handful to Rwanda. We will not stop the boats by attempting to smash the criminal gangs; we have been doing that to the drugs industry in Britain, year after year, decade after decade, with no success whatsoever. The financial rewards for smuggling people across the English channel can now net a gang €2 million to €3 million a week. Whatever prison sentences or penalties are put upon them, there will always be people volunteering to make millions of euros a week. We will stop this only if we start deporting people who come illegally. Then they will not pay the smugglers. But we will do that only by leaving the ECHR. I have a fun suggestion that would liven up politics, engage the public and see a massively increased turnout. Why do we not have a referendum on whether we continue to be a member of the ECHR?