The waves of illegal migrants pouring across the English Channel is likely to last at least another five years, according to a leaked memo from the British government.
In a repudiation of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” carrying illegals from the French coasts, an internal document drafted within the Home Office on potential sites to hold migrants instead of continuing the exorbitantly expensive Covid-era policy of putting them up in hotels across the country tacitly admitted that the government is expecting the crisis to continue for five years, or perhaps longer.
The document, which was drafted in March, laid out the value for money (VfM) of four different locations including former military bases and prisons, according to The Telegraph.
“[Civil servant’s name] is satisfied with VfM [value for money] on Bexhill, Wethersfield and Scampton – on the former two we are saying there is VfM across the 5 years planned for the sites (Bexhill would potential be used for longer),” the memo stated.
“This assumes we are in hotels for that period. If we are not, and/or if our costs are higher than we have estimated, there could be issues on VfM. On Scampton, our recommendation (with HS [Home Secretary]) is to use the site for 3 years rather than 2.”
The document appears, therefore, to suggest that despite Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge to end the people smuggler trade across the Channel, the government is expecting the practice to continue for the foreseeable future.
In June, Mr Sunak travelled to Dover — the coastal area where most illegals are brought ashore in Britain after typically being escorted by the French navy into UK waters — to deliver a speech hailing the success of his government’s policies in stemming the tide of boat migrants.
However, the prime minister was mocked for seemingly taking credit for the inclement weather, which had made crossings of the Channel difficult over the previous months. Indeed, just days following his speech, thousands of migrants began making the journey once again as the weather broke.
The policies enacted by Sunak’s government have seemingly been a mere continuation of those put forward by his former boss, Boris Johnson, namely paying France hundreds of millions in payoffs to step up police patrols of migrant camp areas like Calais and to hope that a deterrence factor will eventually be put in place if the courts finally approve the scheme to send illegals to a third-party country such as Rwanda.
So far this year, over 16,000 illegals have crossed the Channel, compared to around 18,600 at this time last year. Since the crisis began in earnest in 2018, over 100,000 migrants have reached British shores in small boats.
This has been a major contributing factor to the growing backlog of approximately 170,000 alleged asylum seekers awaiting their decision and the 51,000 being put up in hotels across the country at a cost of £6 million per day.
Responding to the prospect of the crisis continuing for at least another five years, Conservative MP Tim Loughton, who serves on the Commons home affairs committee, said: “This is a problem that is not going to go away. Unless the French change their policies about intercepting and detaining migrants and we have Rwanda to take them as well as other Rwandas as it on its own won’t be enough, it could continue.
“It makes sense to plan for the worst eventualities and make sure we have capacity as an alternative to spending on hotels which is the worst scenario for everybody.”
However, others, such as Reform UK party leader Richard Tice have argued that the government must begin turning back the boats and bringing the migrants back to France. Commenting in the wake of the latest tragedy in the Channel on Saturday, in which six migrants drowned to death, Tice accused the politicians in Westminster of having “blood on their hands” for failing to implement a turn back the boats approach.
“If my policy to stop the boats was enacted… no one would leave France and therefore no one would die,” Tice said.