Theresa May is set to give in to demands to pay France to secure its borders, and to take more ‘chid’ migrants from Calais.
The prime minister, “desperate for allies” in Europe as she attempts to cobble together a transition deal and trade agreement with the EU which can be sold to a public increasingly dissatisfied with her concessionary approach, has agreed to hand over £44 million to France.
This will be used to upgrade French border fences, surveillance equipment, and other devices intended to deter and detect illegal migrants, The Telegraph reports.
As a member of the European Union’s borderless Schengen area, France does little to secure its continental borders, allowing untold numbers of illegal migrants to pour into it.
Despite France being a safe and relatively prosperous G7 economy, many of these migrants harbour ambitions of continuing on to the United Kingdom, and set up irregular camps along the French coast which act as staging posts for violent raids on the Channel Tunnel and cars, lorries, and ferries travelling to England.
Many of these migrants are stopped before they reach Britain due to the Le Toquet treaty, which allows British officials to conduct advance border checks in France, and French officials to conduct advance border checks in Britain.
However, the large number of illegal migrants roaming France in hopes of reaching Britain puts tremendous strain on French municipalities.
French president Emmanuel Macron has made political hay by pushing for Britain to pay more to help police illegal immigration on his territory, and to take more so-called child migrants from Calais — rather than tackle the problem at its root by securing his Schengen borders and replacing what amounts to a ‘catch and release’ policy for migrants trying to reach Britain in favour of a ‘detain and deport’ system.
“Taking in more migrants from Calais would risk turning the town into a migrant magnet all over again,” warned Charlie Elphicke, the Member of Parliament for Dover.
“We’ve already given millions to France — it’s time to invest more in Border Security at the Dover frontline.”
“We keep handing over money for security and France keeps coming back for more. Enough is enough,” added Christopher Chope MP, a member of the Home Affairs Committee in the House of Commons.
‘They keep holding us to ransom. It has been suggested that this is a price we need to pay for a trade deal with the EU but it certainly raises a lot of questions.”