Rishi Sunak's Goldilocks migration strategy: 'Stop the boats' and 'start the legal' passage

Residents of Dover on the Kent coast, have seen many asylum seekers arrive after being picked up in the English Channel by the Border Force. Photo by Stefan-Daniel Petcu on Unsplash

There is a grim logic in Rishi Sunak ‘s decision to pair his ‘stop the boats’ pledge with a “safe and legal” routes plan. Stop the boats was one of five new year priorities Mr Sunak set for his government. Safe and legal will offer pathways to Britain for up to 20,000 asylum-seekers.

It is an attempt to craft a Goldilocks migration strategy — not too soft, not too hard, but just right — to appeal to voters ahead of the next general election. Will it work?

It will certainly help Mr Sunak navigate the deadly political minefield that is migration, legal and illegal. Opinion polls conducted in late February and early March indicated that “stopping the boats” was the second-biggest concern among voters who plumped for Mr Sunak’s Conservative Party in the 2019 election. They ranked it well above cutting NHS waiting…