Boris Johnson needs to stand firm for the will of the British people, says Darren Grimes

Emma Thompson is back. The Dame who took a first-class flight from Los Angeles to London to join Extinction Rebellion demo. Yes, her.

I guess we knew she’s not exactly self-aware. But this morning, the millionaire Hollywood actress with houses in Italy and North London is in the news again, telling the British government to stop its latest attempt to control our increasingly lawless borders.

"A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.” The words of former US President Ronald Reagan.

Like Emma, Ronnie was pro-immigration. He welcomed legal new arrivals but recognised a nation-state must be able to control its affairs, and a minimum, control who's coming and who's going. Any self-respecting nation can’t be leaker than a sieve.

It's why, folks, the British people have voted in election after election, for politicians that talk a good game about lowering the numbers of those coming here. It’s a core concern for voters. And we are constantly let down.

In 2015, polls showed immigration was by far the most important issue for British voters, way above the NHS and with twice as many people worried about it as the economy. Open borders with the EU ended and concern has fallen. But we can do more.

The message of taking back control rang true for many because we're a country that—many of us feel--has lost it to unaccountable, liberal, international elites who are steadily pushing Europe, and the world, toward a borderless future.

A laudable attempt to fulfil this Brexit pledge is the Government's Rwanda policy. It’s common to hear the plan dismissed a “wedge issue” or meaningless ploy to give “red meant” to voters by Boris’ government.

It isn’t. It is a legitimate policy to address a real concern. The government is on the side of the popular, democratic will.

The elites, of course, are against it. Prince Charles himself, every bishop in the Lords, billionaire business moguls.

Luvvies like Dame Emma Thompson and Olivia Colman, who in a new letter today, have urged Commonwealth leaders to stand against Britain’s quote-unquote “offensive” scheme to send migrants to Rwanda.

In the letter, they claim the policy — and I quote-- "tells us much about the British Government’s colonial and insulting view of Africa, as a place that is no better than a dumping ground for things – in this case people – it considers a problem."

Who do they think they are?

Firstly, they have slandered Rwanda, one of the most advanced nations in Africa, by implying it is prison.

And we know it is primarily men coming over here in dinghies from France, the land of baguettes, cheese and wine. Not a war-torn nation without rights, protections and democracy.

Another of the signatories said “it’s an insult to Africa. And shames Britain.”

How can it be an insult to Africa, when a democratic government signs a paid agreement that's beneficial to both parties, without coercion? It doesn't shame Britain. I'll tell you what shames Britain.

The lack of housing in our country, the lack of ability to access a GP or a dentist, the lack of places at our nation's schools, the lack of support for our veterans and our inability to help those already here, never mind in accepting all of the world's problems to settle here.

In 2016, during the Brexit debates, Thompson described Britain as “a tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island.” Charming. The problems caused by mass migration don't impact these celebrities. They don’t care about us, and they often don’t care about the UK.

But Boris needs to stand firm against her, her cronies, the bishops, the European Courts, and the UN and their war of attrition against this policy and, ultimately, stand up for the will of the British people.