The news is that it is a new change. The reason why it is being opposed is that it is needlessly restrictive on refugees which we already make as hard as possible to allow to apply already.

For example, imagine you are someone from the DR Congo and need to flee the conflict. You have family in the UK so you attempt to make your way here using refugee routes. You can only make it as far as France before having to take a boat over and get into the country illegally even before you can apply for asylum. Now even if this application is accepted, you can never become a citizen, even though you are legally living in the country.

The unfair bit of it is that you cannot apply for asylum without being in the country (except in certain circumstances) which you cannot enter without entering illegally. This is at least my novice knowledge of the way the system works at the moment.

Over in the UK, this got picked up by the mainstream papers. Maybe he is more well known over here. He is the type to often gets headlines for his outrageous comments.

The documentary is a good watch. It is scary to see how the PA members think their views are normal. e.g. saying something along the lines of “everyone thinks this…” after saying something abhorrent.

Are you nearby to it at least? The last big one in December they had the emergency warning zone a fair bit bigger than the actual red area to account for people travelling. Which does make sense considering people will commute up to 50 miles or so, plus inaccuracies from phone masts covering a large area.