Margaret Thatcher would expect the Tories to retake control of Britain’s borders

In a 1978 interview to mark her third year as leader of the Conservative Party, Margaret Thatcher addressed public concerns with immigration, stating that ‘people are really rather afraid that this country might be rather swamped’.

Goodness knows what word she would use to describe the situation we face today.

Anyone who has knocked on doors or surveyed their constituents in recent years will tell you the public have had enough. Immigration into the UK is the number one concern to the British public and, in my judgment, a party that does not address it will not win.

In 2003 427,000 people arrived in Britain. In the years that followed it was 518,000, 496,000, 529,000, 527,000, 538,000, 528,000, 553,000, 531,000, and 426,000. Yet it is even more serious than bare numbers suggest. Because we have, quite literally, lost control of our borders.