| Hi there, I'm Ailbhe Rea, a Bloomberg UK Associate Editor and Readout author. Hope you enjoy today's newsletter. It's a familiar story: the government, facing political heat over rising illegal immigration numbers, is introducing controversial "emergency legislation" to send asylum seekers to another country, overturning a court ruling that the country in question is not "safe." Except today it is the Irish government introducing the legislation, and the "safe country" at issue is… the UK. You couldn't make it up. Now an almighty diplomatic row has erupted between the British and Irish governments.  Ireland's new Taoiseach, Simon Harris Photographer: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images As a Readout reader, you are familiar with the political salience of small-boat crossings here in Britain, but maybe less so with how a similar row has been brewing across the Irish Sea. As a journalist from Belfast, I keep a keen eye on both. Just like the UK, Ireland has seen a huge increase in asylum claims in recent years, with similar controversy over the use of hotel accommodation to house refugees. That has intersected with a housing crisis and rising homelessness, with astonishing scenes of refugees on the streets of Dublin. We used to say that Ireland was a rare western European country with next to no far-right presence, but last November riots broke out in the heart of the capital, revealing an ugly underbelly of anti-migrant hatred. It suits Simon Harris, who only became Taoiseach this month, to look like he is taking a tough approach. He replaced Leo Varadkar as leader of Fine Gael, the ruling party in coalition with Fianna Fail, after dire polling for both parties. Fine Gael's hopes are pinned on this young, TikTok-loving politician to reverse their fortunes ahead of a general election due before February in Ireland, similar to the timeline facing UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. In Britain, it suits Sunak's government to double-down two days ahead of key local elections in England and Wales. A spokesperson for the PM today said: "We're not going to accept returns from the EU via one country while the EU doesn't accept returns via another country." Rishi Sunak said yesterday that the UK will not accept returns from Ireland. Today, Harris repeated that he expects the UK to. Neither embattled leader is backing down. A meeting between UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Helen McEntee, the Irish justice secretary, has also been postponed. The collision of these two countries' migration policies is a reminder that this issue is far from isolated to the UK. In a year of elections, migration is changing politics and economies around the world. Want this in your inbox each weekday? You can sign up here. | 
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