DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A bold bid to mend our broken borders

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A bold bid to mend our broken borders

The Mail is enormously proud of Britain’s long history of giving safe haven to those fleeing war and oppression.

The problem is our asylum system is too often abused, with thousands of Channel migrants landing illegally on our beaches.

So we welcome Rishi Sunak’s pledge to end Britain’s ‘soft touch’ reputation by clamping down on the small boats.

Under the plan, anyone arriving unlawfully will be detained and deported, either to their home country or to a safe third country such as Rwanda. Of course, Labour and the liberal Left will fight it tooth and nail.

And the Rwanda scheme may yet be delayed by the European Court of Human Rights (and how outrageous that we still don’t know the identity or nationality of the judge that blocked the first flight).

‘Our asylum system is too often abused, with thousands of Channel migrants landing illegally on our beaches’

But by showing boldness Mr Sunak can succeed – and mend public faith in the security of our borders.

Labour’s eco lunacy

GIVEN the surge in energy prices after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, there was only one thing more predictable than Shell announcing record global profits.

That was the howls of outrage by climate campaigners and the sanctimonious Left, who accused the oil giant of exploiting the war to generate greater riches.

Ed Miliband, Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change

Labour’s shouty, finger-wagger-in-chief Ed Miliband led the calls for more aggressive windfall taxes. All of which the Mail has some sympathy with… up to a point.

For this issue is complex. Shell is already paying a top tax rate of up to 75 per cent rate on its UK profits. Creaming off even more would be an act of self-harm.

It would deter investment in the North Sea – just as we need more energy production to drive prices back down – cost British jobs, slash tax receipts, clobber pension funds and reduce investment in green technologies of which Shell is a pioneer.

In a fit of virtue-signalling, Labour says it would ban all investment in domestic oil and gas. But that would mean spending billions importing energy – increasing pollution and carbon emissions.

Treating oil giants as pariahs might give Mr Miliband and the eco lobby a warm glow. But it would leave us colder, poorer and dangerously dependent on dictators.

Banking on tax cuts

With troubling complacency, the Chancellor is ignoring warnings that tax rises will hamper the economic recovery.

Yet the latest concerns – shared wholeheartedly by this paper – do not come from the Tories’ Thatcherite wing.

Remarkably, alarm bells are being rung by the Bank of England – usually the last institution to rock any boats.

Of course, we have some sympathy with Jeremy Hunt. He clearly wants to cut taxes, but with towering national debt and inflation sky-high, he believes it would be irresponsible to do so now.

But given Bank governor Andrew Bailey’s warning that high taxes risk stifling growth, shouldn’t the Chancellor listen?

When he delivers his Budget next month, Mr Hunt should cut taxes to generate investments, jobs and revenues to pay off our terrifying debts.

Low taxes work. They put more money in people’s pockets and foster a climate where enterprise and wealth creation can thrive.

These are traditional Tory values – and they have always been successful.

• Setting out anti-strike laws in the Commons last month, Business Secretary Grant Shapps deployed a highly effective tactic. He revealed just how much funding each critical Labour MP took from the unions. Today, we show it is £4million. They are mere puppets for their militant paymasters. Not so much they work for you, as they work for unions! See for yourselves at www.theyworkforunions.co.uk.

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