The Labour Government

[moomba]

Asylum seekers’ jewellery could be seized to pay for processing costs, says Home Office minister

Idea borrowed from Denmark is latest attempt to reduce number of people seeking asylum in UK

www.theguardian.com

No words.

It's like a competition to see who can come up with the nastiest policies relating to people who (in the main) have already been through a lot.

 

[mosssideblue]

It's like a competition to see who can come up with the nastiest policies relating to people who (in the main) have already been through a lot.

Haven't seen her proposal today but was that formally announced as being part of the policy the UK are taking?

 

[Palerider]

Haven't seen her proposal today but was that formally announced as being part of the policy the UK are taking?

The headline in the Guardian (or is it the Daily Mail?) says "could be". Generally the words "could be" are there to get clicks and exasperation from that particular papers "Gammon". They do it because they generally succeed.

 

[hilts]

They genuinely seem to believe that telling racists they'll be horrible to asylum seekers will get the racists to vote for them whilst keeping non-racists on side.

When they're already losing a lot more voters to non-racist parties (green and libdem).

Aside from morally bankrupt, it's politically brain dead. And won't actually work either.

Other than that, it's a masterstroke.

I think political.parties in general are scrambling in desperation trying to come up with solutions for impossible situations.

 

[Chippy_boy]

I've never understood why true wealth of a country isn't based on GDP per capita.

Ireland have double the GDP per capita then UK has for example.

It becomes such an easy stat for politicians to over exaggerate the actual quality of life this country has.

Just as when the big finance guys big up how well a stock market is doing when probably 90% of the population don't invest in it. Only benefits a small percentage.

Absolutely. It's total fallacy to think that we are near the top of the pile, sadly. And it's worse than I remembered. According to the IMF (2025) the following countries are better off than us in raw GDP per capita terms:

Rank Country GDP per Capita (USD)
1 Monaco $256,581
2 Liechtenstein $201,150
3 Luxembourg $141,080
4 Bermuda $125,842
5 Switzerland $111,716
6 Ireland $107,243
7 Cayman Islands $97,583
8 Singapore $93,956
9 Norway $90,320
10 Iceland $90,111
11 United States $89,678
12 Macau $84,276
13 Qatar $72,760
14 Denmark $71,967
15 Netherlands $70,606
16 Australia $67,979
17 San Marino $61,518
18 Austria $61,080
19 Sweden $59,508
20 Belgium $58,248
21 Germany $57,914
22 Finland $57,183
23 Canada $55,890
24 Hong Kong $55,608
25 Israel $54,370

We are 26th with $54,280. Allowing for how much your money actually buys you (Purchasing Power Parity, PPP) we are 31st! Just look at the list of countries where people are better off than we are in the UK. It's really quite depressing.

But in fact it's much worse than that because so much of our wealth is in the southeast. So tens of millions of people not in the southeast are much worse off than that. People really need to reflect upon this before spouting out the usual nonsense about how loaded we are and how we can easily afford x, y or z.

 

[Palerider]

Absolutely. It's total fallacy to think that we are near the top of the pile, sadly. And it's worse than I remembered. According to the IMF (2025) the following countries are better off than us in raw GDP per capita terms:

Rank Country GDP per Capita (USD)
1 Monaco $256,581
2 Liechtenstein $201,150
3 Luxembourg $141,080
4 Bermuda $125,842
5 Switzerland $111,716
6 Ireland $107,243
7 Cayman Islands $97,583
8 Singapore $93,956
9 Norway $90,320
10 Iceland $90,111
11 United States $89,678
12 Macau $84,276
13 Qatar $72,760
14 Denmark $71,967
15 Netherlands $70,606
16 Australia $67,979
17 San Marino $61,518
18 Austria $61,080
19 Sweden $59,508
20 Belgium $58,248
21 Germany $57,914
22 Finland $57,183
23 Canada $55,890
24 Hong Kong $55,608
25 Israel $54,370

We are 26th with $54,280. Allowing for how much your money actually buys you (Purchasing Power Parity, PPP) we are 31st! Just look at the list of countries where people are better off than we are in the UK. It's really quite depressing.

But in fact it's much worse than that because so much of our wealth is in the southeast. So tens of millions of people not in the southeast are much worse off than that. People really need to reflect upon this before spouting out the usual nonsense about how loaded we are and how we can easily afford x, y or z.

Interesting table and why any sane person can see that getting as many people off benefits and working is the Holy Grail. The more people that work the higher our GDP, the lower our welfare bill, the less need for immigration (legal and illegal), the more money we will have to improve services and therefore peoples lives. The key really is getting people working. Starmer and Reeves have had a go at this but look to have failed sadly. Tough as it may be, getting people off benefits will both improve their lives and their mental health.

 

[Vic]

It would be really interesting to see what happened if every immigrant removed their labour for a week or two.

One or two dead on that Peterborough train...

 

[roubaixtuesday]

I think political.parties in general are scrambling in desperation trying to come up with solutions for impossible situations.

I agree, but also they're deliberately putting forward things they know won't work but they hope will strike a chord with voters - performative politics.

Which only compounds the problem.

 

[BlueHammer85]

It's like a competition to see who can come up with the nastiest policies relating to people who (in the main) have already been through a lot.

Officials at the UK border will not be "taking sentimental pieces or seizing jewellery" off of asylum seekers, Number 10 has insisted.

It follows reports that wealthy claimants might have valuable items they possess taken off them to pay for the cost of housing and feeding them.

A spokesperson said: "It's right that if people have money in their bank accounts, or e-bikes, they should be contributing to the cost of taxpayer accommodation.

"We will not seize items of jewellery at the border, and we will not take sentimental pieces."

 

[moomba]

I think political.parties in general are scrambling in desperation trying to come up with solutions for impossible situations.

Winning an election being the main situation they're trying to solve.

Suspect most dont give a toss about immigration and migrants.

 

[moomba]

Officials at the UK border will not be "taking sentimental pieces or seizing jewellery" off of asylum seekers, Number 10 has insisted.

It follows reports that wealthy claimants might have valuable items they possess taken off them to pay for the cost of housing and feeding them.

A spokesperson said: "It's right that if people have money in their bank accounts, or e-bikes, they should be contributing to the cost of taxpayer accommodation.

"We will not seize items of jewellery at the border, and we will not take sentimental pieces."

Good

 

[Palerider]

I think political.parties in general are scrambling in desperation trying to come up with solutions for impossible situations.

Nobody in their right mind can blame anyone for trying to improve the quality of life for themselves (and possibly their family). It's possible, that, with climate change, large parts of the world will become uninhabitable so again, who can blame anyone trying to better themselves in the lottery of life. Realistically the only way to stop the current high levels of immigration is to make every country on the planet relatively equal economically and also at peace so that economic migration is pretty pointless. Trouble is, it means levelling down for the rich countries which makes it pretty much impossible.

 

[Chippy_boy]

Interesting table and why any sane person can see that getting as many people off benefits and working is the Holy Grail. The more people that work the higher our GDP, the lower our welfare bill, the less need for immigration (legal and illegal), the more money we will have to improve services and therefore peoples lives. The key really is getting people working. Starmer and Reeves have had a go at this but look to have failed sadly. Tough as it may be, getting people off benefits will both improve their lives and their mental health.

Yep. We're now in a situation where the country needs a hard reset, which is why it needs a completely new government unhindered by its previous failings.

Sadly, we have engrained into too many in our population the idea that "feeling a bit cheesed off" = "I can't work, it's affecting my mental health". We need to get 1m+ off their backsides and back into a job, paying taxes, and crucially, improving their own lives not just the country's economy.

Our idiotic woke ideology is responsible for SO much damage. Hiring the wrong people due to idiotic DEI policies. Kids being taught that it's perfectly fine for men to want to become women. That it's right that a convicted sex offender cannot be deported because he might get persecuted in his own country. ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC. Starmer epitomises everything that is wrong with the country. And people now realise it, which is why he is the most unpopular prime minister on record.

All of this bullshit must go.

 

[TinFoilHat]

Reacting to fascists rather than working on plans to ensure people have a bit more money to spend.

It's as if all the big parties want the electorate scared so we don't start thinking too much about what cunts they are and we change the whole system together.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

Reacting to fascists rather than working on plans to ensure people have a bit more money to spend.

It's as if all the big parties want the electorate scared so we don't start thinking too much about what cunts they are and we change the whole system together.

Aye, economics is what wins elections, not all of this immigration bullshit. Anti-immigration rhetoric is a symptom, not the solution.

Having said that, they're going to solve this huge backlog in processing refugees by......[checks note]......making them apply for asylum twice as often. Congratulations. You've just doubled the workload.

Hell, I don't even disagree with the principle, but that's the issue with populist policies. They sound good until you actually look at the work involved in implementing them.

 

[blueinsa]

They genuinely seem to believe that telling racists they'll be horrible to asylum seekers will get the racists to vote for them whilst keeping non-racists on side.

When they're already losing a lot more voters to non-racist parties (green and libdem).

Aside from morally bankrupt, it's politically brain dead. And won't actually work either.

Other than that, it's a masterstroke.

You can all vote Green at the next election.

Every other party will try to deal with what is a huge issue for the nation.

 

[blueinsa]

Mahmood is a seriously good political operator imo.

 

[Dazzle84]

Absolutely. It's total fallacy to think that we are near the top of the pile, sadly. And it's worse than I remembered. According to the IMF (2025) the following countries are better off than us in raw GDP per capita terms:

Rank Country GDP per Capita (USD)
1 Monaco $256,581
2 Liechtenstein $201,150
3 Luxembourg $141,080
4 Bermuda $125,842
5 Switzerland $111,716
6 Ireland $107,243
7 Cayman Islands $97,583
8 Singapore $93,956
9 Norway $90,320
10 Iceland $90,111
11 United States $89,678
12 Macau $84,276
13 Qatar $72,760
14 Denmark $71,967
15 Netherlands $70,606
16 Australia $67,979
17 San Marino $61,518
18 Austria $61,080
19 Sweden $59,508
20 Belgium $58,248
21 Germany $57,914
22 Finland $57,183
23 Canada $55,890
24 Hong Kong $55,608
25 Israel $54,370

We are 26th with $54,280. Allowing for how much your money actually buys you (Purchasing Power Parity, PPP) we are 31st! Just look at the list of countries where people are better off than we are in the UK. It's really quite depressing.

But in fact it's much worse than that because so much of our wealth is in the southeast. So tens of millions of people not in the southeast are much worse off than that. People really need to reflect upon this before spouting out the usual nonsense about how loaded we are and how we can easily afford x, y or z.

The problem with that list is it's basically a who's who of tax havens so you're not really comparing apples with apples. It's not reflective of day to day spending capacity.

GDP itself is flawed, but to seriously compare our economy to the Cayman Islands is silly

 

[roubaixtuesday]

what is a huge issue for the nation.

1. Coping with the effects of demographics of an aging population on health and social care costs.

2. A Fascist Russia invading Europe

3. Coping with the loss of ~6% of GDP due to Brexit

4. Housing

5. The collapse of US democracy

etc are huge issues.

Refugees are a tiny issue compared to any of these, and many others.

 

[blueinsa]

1. Coping with the effects of demographics of an aging population on health and social care costs.

2. A Fascist Russia invading Europe

3. Coping with the loss of ~6% of GDP due to Brexit

4. Housing

5. The collapse of US democracy

etc are huge issues.

Refugees are a tiny issue compared to any of these, and many others.

It’s a huge issue affecting the country and no matter how many times you tell yourself it’s not, guess what?

It is and that’s why it’s being dealt with by huge policy change.

Don’t like it?

Vote Green, they will still let everyone in.