Priti Patel, Britain’s home secretary, no doubt survived Boris Johnson’s recent cull of senior ministers because her approach appeals to certain sections of the political establishment, the media and the focus groups which play a key role in government policy formation. She is, in brief, tough on immigrants. But a reality of the modern world is that more and more people are on the move. Trying to somehow create a parallel universe in which migrants and refugees will not arrive in the UK by one means or another is leading to inhumane policies that any civilised country should be ashamed of.

The Nationality and Borders Bill currently before Parliament is primarily aimed at stemming the flow of refugees in small boats across the English Channel. A large proportion of them have a valid claim to asylum under international law, but the bill proposes to criminalise them on arrival. The government says this is a measure aimed at the criminal gangs who organise such Channel crossings, but its net effect will be to burden the local police force far beyond its capacity. Custody on this scale being impractical, asylum seekers arrested under the new law would have to be released on bail, achieving nothing. If their asylum claim was eventually successful, their illegal status would be automatically rectified anyway.