//There was an arrangement called the Dublin agreement but we voided that by leaving the EU.
I think it’s called giving up your cake and then asking for the best bits back.//
Much is made of the Dublin agreement and how “foolish” it was of the UK to ditch it as part of the Brexit negotiations. So let’s take a look.
The agreement was not the panacea that many would have us believe. In fact it was a two-edged sword. It provided for the UK to return some migrants to the EU – only those who had applied for asylum in another EU country but who had subsequently travelled to the UK. But it also provided for migrants to be allowed into the UK from Europe for “family reunion” purposes. Figures up to 2019 make interesting reading:
2015 – Transfers into the UK: 131; Transfers out of the UK: 510
2016 – 558; 362
2017 – 461; 314
2018 – 1,215; 209
the 2017 figures of 461 transfers in (against 314 transfers out) came despite the fact that there were over twice as many requests under the Dublin rules to transfer out (5,712) than requests to transfer asylum seekers into the UK (2,137). In fact, as time went on, the UK seemed increasingly less successful with requests to transfer migrants out under the agreement. Here are the requests and successful removal figures between 2012 and 2016:
2012 – Requests: 1,356; Removals: 706 (52%)
2013 – 1,766; 771 (43%)
2014 – 1,831; 652 (35%)
2015 – 3,489; 510 (14%)
2016 – 4,237; 362 (8%)
Bear in mind that these are annual figures. When the weather improved a week or so ago, more than 1,600 migrants made the crossing in small boats in the three days between the 10th and 12th of August. It is little wonder, therefore, that the UK declined to participate in “Dublin IV”, the revised agreement the EU drafted following the migrant crisis of 2015. It is clear that more migrants will become eligible to settle in the UK than will be returned, and in any case the numbers involved are so low (compared to the influx) that the agreement, as far as the UK is concerned, is simply not worth the bother. Looking at the “cake” you mentioned, not only was the Dublin Agreement not among the best bits, I doubt it was even among the crumbs that were swept from the floor.
//There are millions of refugees in Pakistan (fleeing from Afghanistan) and an equal number in Turkey(fleeing from Syria).
We're not being flooded by refugees, whatever the press may tell us.//
So because those two countries are up to their necks in the brown stuff, we’re OK because we’re only up to our waists? You need to take a look around, Sandy.