Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has condemned the Conservative government for failing to protect Britain from a surge of illegal aliens crossing the English Channel, as a daily record 409 landed on Wednesday.
It was only earlier this week that media confirmed a record-breaking daily arrival of illegals on Britain’s shores when 235 arrived on August 6th, only to see 409 land on September 2nd.
UK Border Force intercepted a total of 27 small boats carrying the hundreds of migrants who had left France — but did not turn any back. The French authorities managed to stop just 53 individuals, according to the BBC.
Addressing the issue during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Boris Johnson said: “I have a great deal of sympathy with those who are desperate as to put their children in dinghies or in children’s paddling pools and try to cross the Channel.
“But I have to say what they’re doing is falling prey to criminal gangs and they are breaking the law.”
Prime Minister Johnson added: “It also undermines the legitimate claims of others who seek asylum in this country.
“We will address the rigidities in our laws that make this country, I’m afraid, a target and a magnet for those who would exploit vulnerable people in this way,” he claimed — although Home Secretary Priti Patel’s predecessor Sajid Javid declared the boat crossings a “major incident” all the way back in 2018, with the crisis only getting worse regardless of ministers’ rhetoric on the subject.
Nigel Farage condemned the Tory government for failing to get a grip on the migrant crisis, saying: “The only word for today is invasion, which I predicted would happen months ago. A record day, perhaps as high as 400. The nation is being humiliated, and the government does nothing.”
He later added: “This will get worse and confidence in the Tories taking back control is collapsing.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel has come under pressure for her failure to stop the boats, last month facing embarrassment after Farage revealed a hotel in her own constituency was being used to house some recently-arrived illegals.
On August 29th it was reported that Coventry City Council, which was already hosting two migrant hotels, had to use emergency powers to stop the government from shipping seventeen coachloads of migrants into a third location “with no consultation”, despite the fact the city was “already struggling to support and manage the demand from those in existing hotels”.
During the summer, Patel’s office signalled that the British government was planning to adopt an Australia-style ‘push-back’ strategy, forcing the boats back to France.
Instituted by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Operation Sovereign Borders turned vessels around at sea, resulting in a dramatic drop in migrants arriving in the Antipodean country.
However, sources speaking to The Times did not indicate if the government was close to an agreement with France. Given French politicians’ recent claims that the Channel migrant crisis is Britain’s fault, such a deal might not be easily reached.
Further, the Home Office has blamed “activist lawyers” for frustrating the government’s attempts to deport illegals to the last safe country of residence in line with immigration laws. Last week, activist lawyers blocked the scheduled return of 23 illegals to Spain on one flight.
“The Government’s efforts to facilitate entirely legitimate and legal returns of people who have entered the UK through illegal routes are too often frustrated by last-minute challenges submitted hours before a scheduled flight,” a Home Office spokesman has recently said.
“These claims are very often baseless and entirely without merit, but are given full legal consideration, leading to removal being rescheduled. This can effectively result in the timing out of a return due to stringent Dublin Regulations,” he added.
However, as Boris Johnson has a large parliamentary majority it is not clear what is stopping the Tories from changing the law to put an end to these legal gambits.
The Sun reported on Tuesday that the government is struggling to send back 1,000 illegals to safe countries like France, Spain, and Germany, where they have already claimed asylum. Immigration compliance minister Chris Philp told the House of Commons recently that at least 1,000 of the illegal aliens who had arrived had already claimed asylum in another European Union country.
Ms Patel met with former Australian Prime Minister Abbott on Wednesday, with a Whitehall source telling The Times: “His policy got the boats down to zero. They discussed how it worked.”
Mr Abbott had remarked earlier in the year that in order for the British to stop its migrant crisis, they have to get tough both with the illegals and France.
“To stop people from setting out for Britain in unseaworthy boats, you have to ensure that they never arrive; or that if they do arrive, they are swiftly sent back,” Abbott said in June.
“The French have no right to wave-on their problems to Britain just because they are unwilling or unable to control their own borders,” he said.
“Plainly, this will require a degree of determination and planning on Britain’s part. The French may not like to hear ‘they shall not pass’ from Britons… Still, in the long run, this is for France’s good too; as the only way to clear the camps in Calais is to ensure that none of their occupants can ever get across the Channel and stay.”