It doesn't feel like the status quo is an option if we are to avoid a Reform government with Nigel Farage as PM.

Is the issue the level of immigration or media/social media campaigns (both controlled by rightwing billionaires) that have seen reported concern rising even as the actual level of immigration has crashed?

I don't disagree that the media (both social/mainstream - I would add BBC too) has played a key role in driving the salience of the issue, but that doesn't change the situation that the public believe this is a problem that needs to be sorted (even though the data suggests it is already falling).

I would let them work - the policy we used to have before performative cruelty to foreigners. The reason there are thousands of refugees in hotels is because the Reform Dead government allowed a backlog of claims to build up, a policy that Reform Lite has done nothing to address.

By engaging with "Well what would you do with these subhumans then?" questions, you are validating their premise of a crisis. Britain does not have an immigration or a refugee crisis beyond one created by British governments appeasing the worst people in Britain.

The problem is that voters believe there is a crisis, and telling them: "no, actually you're wrong about this" is a really bad political communication strategy.

No its not. Politicians shape public opinion.

The public believe all kinds of batshit crazy. They believe the government engaged in weather control experiments and that's why we had cloudy skies in August for years. Accepting the premise of "legitimate concerns" of riled up flag shaggers gets you to a bad place quickly, nothing else.

Almost 70% of the UK public believe that immigration is too high, and I don't believe the vast majority of those can be characterised as "flag shaggers". And nor do I believe a vast majority believe those conspiracy theories you highlight.