Every govt since Brown has ultimately failed because it tried to appease idiots. Most bad policy decisions are seemingly designed to appeal to morons who dont understand trade offs or second order impacts. That said, I’m not totally sure we have the political & media environment to break the cycle
I mean, people in govt must know this is bad. Reducing legal immigration hits the economy whilst for many reasons the boats will continue. They must know this is bad & unsustainable. But designing policy or communicating to make it better is very difficult given a vocal minority dont want to hear it