second is a return to deal with the european union. we know we will not get a return to deal with the european union and thus we step up and do our bit, which means offering tightly controlled safe and managed pathways in return for the european union accepting that anybody who tries to cross the channel on a small boat will be sent straight back. keir starmerwill small boat will be sent straight back. keir starmer will have the credibility and the respect of the european union, unlike the conservatives, spent the last years destroying our relationships with our european partners and allies. that will have the basis of trust, and on that basis, we show that we do our bit, in return we get that returns deal, and that is the way to deter people from paying people smugglers to take these dangerous channel crossings. it is common sense, hard graft and quiet diplomacy rather than chasing headwind. ., ., . headwind. you mentioned cutting the backlou , in headwind. you mentioned cutting the b
compared to before the pandemic, enforcement visits are down 22% and arrests are down 17%. this is not an achievement. the home secretary also says that she has cut the backlog, but the backlog is at a record high of 170,000. it has gone up, not down, since december. there has been an 18% drop in asylum decisions in the last quarter and it is no good complaining, no good claiming that they are only claiming a so called legacy backlog of cases beforejune from last year. what about the growing backlog of 60,000 people or more who arrived in the last 12 months? they are still in the asylum system, still in hotels, still in limbo. i backlog is a backlog, no matter how much they try to spin it away. the only legacy we are talking about is the legacy of tory failure to tackle the problem. in fact, all the home secretary has managed to do is take a few decisions on cases that are more than a year old. that