That's never going to happen. We have it with Ireland and Northern Ireland but you don't really have a choice there. I understand the principal of freedom of movement if the country is connected by land but I don't see how you can allow somebody from somewhere in the other side of the world to just walk in.
I can't see why it couldn't happen. They arrive by flight, apply for national insurance number, and can immediately start working. Australia and NZ already are open with each other. Just because there is a larger physical distance I see no problem, all of the countries have similar amounts of wealth, opportunity and culture. However, where I do foresee a problem is the marked rise in xenophobia in UK, I can imagine people still being against it just because 'they're not British'.
Oh, in that regard, age is irrelevant. If they made it across two continents, they're not exactly helpless. They're not really alone, they have people with them. For France, either send them back to where they came from or process them in their country. A refugee is a migrant is a refugee, regardless of race, age, religion etc. There is no difference to me.
You know, I actually worry for people like you and Hicks because if you were in charge of this country, you would happily open the gates and let everybody in regardless of the consequences. All people like you are really doing is fuelling the far right.
That sounds very worrying to me. Age is irrelevant... You're also absolutely wrong by the way, a refugee is not a migrant:
Refugee:
has proven to the authorities that they would be at risk if returned to their home country
has had their claim for asylum accepted by the government
can now stay here either long-term or indefinitely.
Economic migrant:
has moved to another country to work
could be legally or illegally resident, depending on how they entered the country
may or may not have a legal work permit.
Source - http://www.redcross.org.uk/What-we-do/Refugee-support/Refugee-facts-and-figures
Ha, I very much worry for people like you. Or rather, I worry about your views. I actually wouldn't just throw the doors open, I would argue for a co-ordinated international effort to help the current refugees and consider imposing stringent appropriate sanctions (and pressure other countries to do the same) on the countries from where refugees are coming from if the local government is at fault. I do think that refugees who commit severe crimes like those mentioned earlier in this thread (rape, violence etc) should immediately be deported. But everyone else should be helped as much as possible.
People who were born and live in the UK. I'm sorry but we have priority here. This is our country.
Following on from the above, this is where we 100% differ. I can't understand the thinking that where someone is born makes them more or less important than someone born somewhere else. I hope for a future without borders where this tribe-like thinking becomes a thing of the past. Which is undoubtedly the greatest aspect I will miss from the EU project. To put it more eloquently:
"In terms of the principle, free movement of people ought to be a no brainer for entire progressive political spectrum – far beyond the radical left for whom it is a first step to a borderless world. At root, what it represents inside the EU is the creation, through the mixing of people, families and lives, the creation of a lived identity that stretches beyond fractious national frontiers. By opening up the world as a place to freely live and share ideas, it expands the horizons of human potential. The right to live where you want – like the right to love who want, dress how you want, or say what you want – is an extension of human freedom and progress which the left has defended." - http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2016/10/lefts-reasons-ditching-freedom-movement-are-profoundly-wrong
There are hundreds of other countries along the way they could settle in you know. I think you need to ask yourself why they're so intent on reaching us when they could settle in France, or even the countries that have opened their arms to them like Sweden and Germany.
Ah, of course, they must be coming to the UK to extort the local system! They must be just a bunch of thieves looking to grab what they can... There could be dozens of reasons why they choose UK over other countries (some countries have terrible anti-migrant laws or local groups for example). But all I am concerned about is they they're a person fleeing their homeland because they are at risk if they stay there. See above on the red cross link.
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