‘Stopping the boats’ was one of Rishi Sunak’s five priorities at the start of 2023. The numbers, and the visuals, of small boats arriving on the UK’s southern coast is an issue long seized upon by Nigel Farage and the Reform Party that has, to some extent, spooked both the Conservatives and Labour. And it is a policy problem that has caused massive headaches for the finest minds in government, a succession of ministers as well as the officials trying to implement that policy.So what's actually happening in asylum policy? How many people are trying to claim asylum in the UK, and what does that really mean? What is the government’s approach to asylum, be it by approaching Rwanda to be a ‘third country’ or otherwise, and is it working? And what, if there is one, could be a better approach?On this week’s Expert Factor the team explore asylum policy and how effective the government’s approach has been to date.

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THE EXPERT FACTOR is the podcast for people who haven’t had enough of experts. Each week the directors of three leading and respected think tanks – Paul Johnson of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Hannah White of the Institute for Government, and Anand Menon of UK in a Changing Europe – get together to discuss, debate and explain the big questions and themes that will shape the election – and the political landscape for years to come. Produced by Milo Hynes

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