Kemi Badenoch has backed Trump-style, country-wide travel bans as part of a crackdown on illegal migration as she confirmed it was “likely” Britain would need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, saying the UK was being “mugged” by illegal immigration. The Telegraph has more.
The Tory leader said there were “scenarios” where such travel bans would be “viable” following Donald Trump’s announcement this week to impose a blanket bar on arrivals from 12 countries.
Her comments came as she confirmed it was “likely” Britain would need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), saying the UK was being “mugged” by illegal immigration and could not continue to be the “world’s softest touch”.
She branded Reform UK a “Left-wing party” and, amid speculation about her future as leader, admitted she needed to improve, saying “it actually takes quite a while to learn” how to be leader of the Opposition.
Asked about Mr Trump’s travel ban on 12 countries, Ms Badenoch said: “Parliament needs to be able to decide who comes into the country, for how long, and who needs to leave, and that does include travel bans.
“On a country-specific basis it’s much tougher, it’s often more vague. But I think there are scenarios where that is viable. That doesn’t mean that I agree with what Donald Trump has done, I haven’t actually seen the list of countries that he’s banned people from. I’m much more focused on… what’s happening here.”
The White House ban has targeted countries that pose a terror threat to the US, have a “historic failure to accept back” migrants earmarked for deportation, or whose nationals “pose significant risks” of overstaying their visas.
“The overarching point is that governments should have the ability to do these things if the circumstances require it,” said a senior Tory source.
Ms Badenoch confirmed that a Tory government would resurrect Rwanda-style deportation schemes, where migrants who arrive illegally are denied asylum and removed to a third country, or returned to their home nation.
“Britain is being mugged,” she told an audience at the Royal United Services Institute think tank. “Our asylum system is completely broken and will require a fundamental rebuild so that the British government, not people traffickers, control it.
“That means a total end to asylum claims in this country by illegal immigrants, and immediately removing all those who arrive illegally and try to claim asylum.”
She dismissed suggestions by Alain Berset, the head of the Council of Europe, that the ECHR must adapt, with “no taboo” on rewriting its rules. She said previous attempts at reform had been thwarted, and noted Mr Berset had admitted any change would be “difficult” and “complex”.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
My hunch is that the primary driver for this decision by Black Rock, and the other banks, is to reduce their risk of shareholder lawsuits for their not properly exercising their legal fiduciary requirements.
Whatever the true reason (and no doubt it will be whatever is most financially beneficial for BR), the news is to be welcomed.
Indeed IMO all of these initiatives would potentially lead to corporate officers breaching their duty to shareholders.
CSR and DEI need to go the same way.
Hurrah! The Americans are coming! There does seem to be a bit of a sea change in motion, and not before time….
The Heartland Institute is an American conservative and libertarian non profit public policy think tank known for its rejection of….the scientific consensus on climate change
On December 17, 2024, Heartland officially launched what may be the first of several satellite affiliate offices in the U.K., Heartland UK/Europe,…..headed by Lois Perry.
Heartland is already having an effect on nut zero in Europe:
‘(Heartland President, James) Taylor….present(ed) information on March 13, 2024, at a special EU Parliament session on climate change, ESG, and proposed legislation that would require net zero EU carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
Prior to the meeting, Vilimsky and Haider had informed Taylor that the net zero legislation had sufficient support to be approved, based on Hungary’s representatives indicating that country would support it.
Taylor had met some of Hungary’s representatives at a previous event in Vienna, and he renewed acquaintances just before the March 13 special session. During the session, Taylor explained why there is no climate crisis according to the best available data, and he warned of the economic, political, and geopolitical suicide that net zero would bring.
After the session, Taylor met informally with many of the Hungarian MEPs, continuing the conversation over dinner.
Less than two weeks later, the media reported stunning news. On March 25, in a striking defeat of the global climate establishment in the European Union, MEPs sponsoring the net zero legislation pulled it from consideration, after Hungarian MEPs announced they had changed their position and would vote against it.
This left the net zero proposal with insufficient support to pass.’
‘The Launch of Heartland UK/Europe is a signal of our commitment to bringing bold, evidence-based solutions to the forefront of European policy discussions’ said Perry.
‘By uniting key leaders and thinkers from both sides of the Atlantic, we are fostering a vital dialogue to counter ideologically driven overregulation and advance policies that empower individuals and communities.’
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/01/11/climate-change-weekly-530-are-net-zeros-days-numbered-heartland-comes-to-europe/
‘The resources that Heartland UK/Europe can provide, both intellectual and financial, are bound to be invaluable. In truth, this kind of American presence in Britain could neither be better timed nor more sorely needed. Evidence suggests that the UK is currently engaged in a mortifying contest with Justin Trudeau’s Canada to see who can claim the ultimate nagging rights as the most poorly governed, declining nation in the Anglosphere.
Nowhere is our bid for this title stronger than in the British state’s quixotic, utopian obsession with ‘achieving’ net zero emissions. Cheap, efficient, dependable energy is the lifeblood of an advanced industrial economy. Without it, capital is harder to come by, homes are more expensive to heat, and people’s overall quality of life goes down.
‘In the case of the net zero agenda, it is ordinary working people—those for whom the Labour Party claims to speak—who are suffering, and will continue to suffer, most of all. One saving grace is that this means their political loyalties will be up for grabs over the next five years. With the intellectual heft and scientific firepower of the Heartland Institute now behind him, Farage stands an even greater chance—not just of winning people over, but keeping them on-side with practical results if he ever makes it to No. 10.’
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/commentary/are-net-zeros-days-numbered/
It’s not very often I read one of your posts but this was a refreshing change. Time will tell.
Nine days until the Inauguration and counting.
Meta, Amazon and now Blackrock getting their ducks in a row.
Even the Commentariat is reporting it:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgmy7xpw3pyo
“Meta and Amazon axe diversity initiatives joining US corporate rollback.”
“BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, is abandoning the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative after coming under pressure from Republican politicians over its support for woke climate policies.”
Translation:
Blackrock have not been able to place the required funds in the respective bank accounts of their current detractors and until this anomaly is resolved they are backtacking slightly on their woke policies.
This has just delayed the net zero plans, until the next democrat government.
Alternate sub-head: Blackrock use Republican pressure as excuse to back off from supporting unworkable woke policies.
So Blackrock has sniffed the Trump wind …. and realised the Net Zero SCAM is collapsing.
Meanwhile, Two-Tier Keir is hiding in his No.10 bunker and is still allowing Red Ed to destroy the British economy and Rachel-from-Accounts to freeze 4000+ pensioners to death.
It is a sad reflection that the (apparently) biggest, brightest and best of people – I mean those who reach the highest highs of the business world and the public sector and NGOs etc – are such unprincipled cowards. So many questions remain about human nature and how societies run themselves. How can it be that we allow people like this to become the elite?
Obviously we need to redefine “biggest, brightest and best of people”. We also need to reduce the scale of everything.
PS I left out politicians in my list because there is no one in main stream politics that I can see who is anything but a robot following orders.