France is to demand Britain give it even more money to deal with boat migrants crossing the English Channel.
French president Emmanuel Macron is to demand the British government hands his country even more money than it already has to deal with the ongoing migrant crisis, implying that such payments will be needed for police patrols on his country’s coast to continue.
The British government has already handed hundreds of millions to France for the purpose of funding operations targeting illegal migrants in the country, none of which has put a significant dent in the ever-increasing number of arrivals.
Now, according to a report by The Times, further payments from the British will be necessary in order to keep these questionably effective patrols up, with Macron set to demand regular annual payments from the British government at a coming meeting in Paris this week.
“We’re trying to agree with our British counterparts a multi-annual financing framework that would allow us to better plan our actions and increase our human resources, equipment and infrastructure,” one French official reportedly told the publication regarding the President’s coming request.
Another suggested that while France was already patrolling its coastline to deal with migrants, more resources needed to be allocated to the project in order to get sufficient results.
“We already have a lot of boots on the ground,” they claimed. “Being effective in our response necessitates much more than more police on the beaches of Pas-de-Calais.”
It appears likely that Macron’s plan to deal with the crisis will go down like a lead balloon, with a number of British MPs already questioning the value of sending France even more cash.
“The British taxpayer has generously subsidised the French police for several years now over which time we have seen a substantial increase in the numbers successfully evading their measures,” Conservative Party MP Tim Loughton remarked.
“The real issue is that the French police will not arrest those migrants they intercept on the beaches so they are back again the following night with a new boat to try again,” he continued. “They only have to get lucky once.”
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the Conservative Party, also lashed out at the request, saying that the United Kingdom was not getting “value for money” from arrangements already in place.
There will also likely be questions as to whether giving France funding to deal with the crisis will be necessary following the United Kingdom’s new illegal immigration reforms, with Rishi Sunak joining predecessors Theresa May, Boris Johnson, and the short-lived Liz Truss in promising real action on boat migrant arrivals that will ultimately see the multi-year crisis finally end.
Under the scheme, the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, will be legally required to detain and deport illegals to the likes of their home country or a third safe country like Rwanda, with those caught trying to enter the United Kingdom by boat to receive a lifetime ban from ever receiving asylum.
Some pundits have already suggested that this Australia-style crackdown is all talk though, with the measures likely to be killed in either the British or European courts.
“These new promises by the Government to stop the boats are just cynical politics,” said Nigel Farage.
“When UK legislation is inevitably overruled by foreign judges in Strasbourg, Tories will fight the next election on leaving [European Court of Human Rights].”