Why was Brexit advertised as taking back control of borders, while in reality, the economy needs immigrants to grow?
Lisa Holland says there is a sense in Coventry that it was like she had “gone back in a tardis to 2016, pre Brexit referendum” when walking around today.
She says there was the same sense today as there was back then that there are number of issues to solve, from housing to schools, healthcare, and housing.
She detected “annoyance” and “anger” from people that these are not being addressed and the government “should be focusing on people at home”.
But Lisa explains that there is a “confusion about who’s coming”.
Focusing on people at home means providing housing, for example, for people coming in on legal visa schemes from Ukraine and Afghanistan.
But that is being confused with the accommodation that needs to be provided for asylum seekers, she explains.
People included in the figures today are not necessarily people who need support from the British state – most will already have jobs and housing arranged, for example.
“But it is generating this slight sense of burning resentment,” she says.
“You didn’t have to poke too far to get that sense from people of – how much can this country take?”
Ali Fortescue says the government does have control of the borders, but MPs on the right would argue that much more needs to be done.
But it’s not all smooth in Downing Street, with cabinet ministers disagreeing on exactly how to bring numbers down.
“There’s all sorts of dynamics and tensions going on within government over this,” she says.
