A Conservative MP has slammed France for trying to make their migrant crisis a “British problem”, after a French lawmaker blamed Britain’s lack of “humanity” for the death of an illegal migrant who tried to cross the English Channel.
On Wednesday, French authorities discovered the body of a Sudanese male migrant — said to be a child but later revealed to be a 28-year old adult — washed up on the beach of Sangatte in Calais, France. He had gone missing Tuesday evening, after believing to have gone out of the English Channel in a makeshift boat trying to reach the UK.
Politicians on the other side of the Channel have sought to blame the UK for the death of the young man who left French shores.
Pierre-Henri Dumont, the Calais MP for the establishment-right Republicans, said on Wednesday: “How many more dramas will it take for the British to regain an ounce of humanity? The inability to lodge an asylum application in Great Britain without being physically present there generates these tragedies.”
He then implied that it was not France’s responsibility to handle the illegal migrants in his country, saying: “The migrants present in Calais do not seek asylum in France.”
In response to the Frenchman’s remarks, Tim Loughton, the Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, told Channel 4 News: “I’m gobsmacked. I’ve heard Pierre-Henri Dumont… blaming Britain for what is a French problem, and they think they are going to solve the problem by making it a British problem.”
He also rejected Dumont’s claim that French authorities were “doing everything they can” to stop illegal boat migrants leaving their shores, pointing out that the UK had spent “a fortune in taxpayers’ money” in sending police to France, in intelligence-sharing, and building infrastructure to stop illegal migration.
The British have already given France £100 million in the past six years to stop illegal migration, with reports Paris is demanding £30 million more to hold back the current crisis.
Mr Loughton pointed out the only way to solve the problem is for French or British authorities to turn the boats back “to make it very clear that if you’re going to pay people smugglers — in most cases, a large amount of money — to make a really dangerous journey, you’re going to end up where you started, so it’s not worth trying, don’t bother doing it again. If we did that… we would solve it.”
Reporting by Nigel Farage earlier this year revealed that French naval vessels were escorting migrant boats across the English Channel and into UK territorial waters, and were coordinating with British authorities in handing over the illegal aliens.
Commenting on the tragic death, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said yesterday: “The death of a young man in the Channel is very sad. Right now there are boats out there in worsening conditions.”
“We must stop this criminal trade, or more lives will be lost,” he added.
The government’s new clandestine Channel threat commander Dan O’Mahoney is meeting with French officials on Thursday to try to break the cycle of illegal migration, where the success of illegals making it to Britain and facing a minimal chance of being deported encourages others to make the journey. The UK is said to be considering adopting an Australia-style push-back system, whereby illegals would be returned automatically to France. However, the French are resistant to the idea.
Australia’s Operation Sovereign Borders had been successful in dramatically reducing illegal boat migration. But its creator, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, has told the UK that it must get tough with France over accepting the return of illegal aliens, or be ready to face an English Channel migrant crisis. Mr Abbott added that it was the only viable solution to stop migrant deaths at sea, because if it is understood that to land on Western soil does not mean automatic right to stay, then migrants will not attempt to take dangerous journeys.
On Thursday, it was reported that dozens of migrants were found dead near the Canary Islands and Libya. While globalist international agencies and NGOs have claimed that not ferrying migrants to their preferred destination or simply repelling them endangered life, Italy’s Matteo Salvini proved the contrary.
Before the collapse of the right-populist left-wing coalition, the League’s Matteo Salvini, as interior minister, has imposed a strict policy of not allowing migrant transport NGOs to land on Italian shores, discouraging the organised trafficking of illegals from North Africa. With migrants and criminal traffickers aware that the chances of landing had been massively reduced, so too were attempted crossings, and as a result, there was a drop in the number of fatalities at sea.
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