What are the policy options to respond to Channel crossings?

The current terms of the debate on immigration in the UK are highly constrained and characterised by crisis language and far right responses. What is thought of as ‘realistic’ has become limited to a consensus around the need for tight border controls, with some selective admission of a small number of refugees. But these are not solutions. We need to rethink what we mean by ‘realistic’, moving away from fantasy solutions, and towards sustainable and ongoing responses.

1We hear a lot about irregular migration as a security problem, as a cultural threat, a biological threat, and the solutions proposed are then centred on security, criminalisation and dehumanisation.

The aim of this working paper is to push our thinking in terms of what is possible, and what might be imagined in responding to the situation unfolding in this particular borderzone.

We explore six ideas which take a different direction to the current terms of political debate, which we will take into different stakeholder communities during 2024.

Download the working paper below.