Jo White MP
BASSETLAW'S STRONG VOICE
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At 11am today, on the 11th day of the 11th month, we pause to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country.
Last Friday, I attended the Remembrance Service at Babworth Crematorium, where I had the honour of reading ‘A Working Party’ by Siegfried Sassoon, a powerful poem that captures the harsh reality faced by soldiers in the trenches during the First World War.
Across Bassetlaw, the names of the fallen are inscribed on our war memorials. I wanted to take a moment to remember not only their names, but the faces behind them, which I have taken from The Nottinghamshire Roll of Honour website.
We don’t have time to pussyfoot around and getting on top of the small boat crisis remains my priority. I welcome that the new Home Secretary has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to tackle illegal immigration.
I want to see a system that is firm, but fair. We need an urgent overhaul, and I have three proposals for the Home Secretary:
1. It costs Britain £5.5 million a day to process and house asylum seekers. If someone’s claim is approved, they should be allowed to work and repay the cost over time, just like student loans.
2. People arriving by small boat shouldn’t be allowed to claim asylum here. In Irbil in Iraq, there’s a UK visa centre yet just down the street, criminals are cashing in by sending people illegally across Europe to the Channel. All asylum claims should be made through official centres.
3. We know asylum seekers are escaping awful situations. But if their claim is accepted, they should agree to return to their home country when it is safe again to help rebuild it.
I have been looking at what they are doing in Denmark, led by this government’s sister party, the Social Democrats. They have some of the toughest laws on illegal migration in Europe, and in 2024, they experienced a forty year low in the number of people claiming asylum and 95% of people without the right to stay were returned. I am keen that our Home Secretary takes lessons from Denmark, and we adopt a British version of these strong laws.
Today, I have spoken to many people who were proudly wearing medals of lost loved ones or told me of family members who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedoms and security that we so often take for granted.
In recent years I have thought of my great uncle, Walter Aylett at this time, who died on 5th April 1918, fighting the Battle of Avre. His body was never recovered and his name is simply recorded with others at Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery.
He was serving with the Australian Imperial Army and I believe this was because he was invalided out of the Royal Medical Corps in 1910, and this was the only way that he could fight for his country.
His memory had been lost through the generations but I am sure that his mother, my great grandmother would have never forgotten her brave son
I attended the service in Retford this morning and joined others to lay a wreath. I then travelled to Worksop and Harworth to lay a wreath at each of their war memorials.
It was an honour to do this. There will never be an end to the thank you's. They will never be forgotten.
Great to be back in Retford this morning for another coffee meeting with local residents ☕️
Thank you to everyone who came along to share your thoughts and raise local issues