The lopsidedness here is the story, not the closeness — 119 votes to 25 is not a debate so much as a verdict delivered before the case was fully made, and the thinness of the No side's written argument only sharpens that impression. This was a floor already decided, arguing amongst itself over method rather than principle.
The Yes camp's centre of gravity was sovereignty-as-arithmetic: the most-respected opinion on the page framed border control as an existential duty rather than a policy choice, warning that "the situation will be more difficult to deal with" the longer it drags on, and reaching for a comparison to Channel crossings to argue the numbers are already outstripping the state's capacity to cope. Others pushed further into tactics — tear gas, rubber bullets, mass deportation bans — while one voter's framing, "if you don't protect your borders you will be taken over," treated the question as civilisational rather than administrative. Notably, one Yes voter broke ranks on process rather than principle, insisting this was "non of our buisness" for the British public to weigh in on at all, even while voting Yes.
The No side barely showed up in argument, its single opinion a wry aside about rebuilding "city walls, gates and barbicans" rather than a case against military deployment — leaving the 25% who voted No largely unheard from in their own words, a silence that is itself a finding given how comfortably Yes carried the floor.
The result echoes a fault line running well beyond Ceuta — the same instinct that has hardened attitudes on Channel crossings and EU migration policy generally, where humanitarian emergency and border enforcement are increasingly treated as the same conversation rather than two competing ones. Sánchez's government resisted framing this as a military matter; the chamber here overwhelmingly did not agree.
For a question about the limits of state force, the vote itself showed remarkably few limits — and even less appetite for restraint in argument.
8 Opinions
No but we do need to start some municipal castle building again, with city walls, gates and barbicans around every town. Horses are the future!
Yes 60 thousand at last count in 2days! Has to be pre planned . Get troops and deported every single one and ban any future applications from them. Maybe we could do it to !!
If you don't protect your borders you will be taken over. But the real question is Spain having territory in Morrocco when they want us to give them Gobraltar
Only voted yes because the British public have no right to decide what the Spanish do. It's non of our buisness! All those saying they should do this that or the other are probably the very same ones who be crying foul & mouthing of about sovereignty if the Spanish public started telling our government how to do things! Pot kettle & all that!
Yes they should, however with their present Prime Minister they won't. He's quite happy to invite them all in thus giving them free access across the rest of the EU and eventually the UK.
Every country has the right to protect its borders with full force they poses and find necessary to use, means Spain and UK as well. Apologies, not the right but duty. Overtime the situation will be more difficult to deal with. Number of illegal migrants in the UK crossing the Channel so far (~206,700) is already greater than UK Armed Forces (183,410) or the police (169,348).
Yes, but using only tear gas and rubber bulletsand with the objective of driving them back. No capturing for "processing" ie later entry.
You don’t need to shoot them all. Most will stop trying to enter once they see what is happening.