Channel crossing migrants should face prosecution if child dies
She added: 'Everybody who is arriving on a boat where a child's life has been lost, frankly, should be facing prosecution, either in the UK or in France.'
The Government has already included a new offence of 'endangering life at sea' in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently making its way through Parliament.
Ms Cooper has previously said this would allow the authorities to act against people 'involved in behaviour that puts others at risk of serious injury or death, such as physical aggression, intimidation, or rejecting rescue attempts'.
But on Friday, she appeared to go further by suggesting even getting on an overcrowded boat could result in prosecution.
She said: 'If you've got a boat where we've seen all of those people all climb on board that boat, they are putting everybody else's lives at risk.'
Crossings have increased in the past year, reaching 20,600 by July 2, a rise of 52% compared with the same period in 2024.
Some 15 children died trying to cross the Channel last year, prompting charity Project Play to warn that conditions were becoming 'more dangerous' for young people.
Advocacy co-ordinator Kate O'Neill, based in northern France, blamed policies aimed at preventing crossings for the increasing risk.
She told the PA news agency: 'Ultimately the children we're meeting every day are not safe.
'They're exposed to a level of violence, whether it's they are directly victims of it or the witness.
'We're ultimately at all times putting out fires… the underlying issue is these policies of border securitisation… that are creating more and more barriers to child safety and child protection.'
She said there was hope when the Labour Government took office a year ago that there would be some improvement, adding: 'This is not at all what we've seen.
'They continued to make conditions more difficult and more dangerous.'
She said: 'The smash-the-gangs narrative is not effective and it's harmful because ultimately the only way to put the gangs out of business is to cut the need for them.'
Meanwhile, Ms O'Neill said French police were already intervening in crossing attempts in shallow waters despite the changes to the rules to allow this having not yet come into force.
She said: 'This is not a new tactic… it's something that has been happening for a long time in Calais and surrounding areas.
'My feeling is that this is increasing based on the number of testimonies we're receiving from children and their families recently.
'It's really dangerous because the children often are in the middle of the boats.'
On Friday, the Home Secretary welcomed reports that French police were intervening in French waters to prevent crossings, and said she had been 'working very closely with the French interior minister' to ensure the rules were changed 'as swiftly a possible'.
Ms Cooper also declined to confirm reports the UK was looking at a 'one in, one out' policy that would see people who had crossed the Channel returned to Europe in exchange for asylum seekers with connections to Britain.
Asked about the policy, she would only tell Sky News that ministers were 'looking at a range of different issues' and 'different ways of doing returns'.
A boat carrying migrants could be seen off the coast of Gravelines in northern France on Friday morning as a family and dog walkers enjoyed the sunny weather on the beach.
A French authority boat followed the dinghy closely as it travelled along the coast passing big ships such as a DFDS ferry, and a French border control helicopter flew overhead.
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The Guardian
31 minutes ago
- The Guardian
How a £1.5bn ‘wildlife-boosting' bypass became an environmental disaster
Lorries thunder over the A14 bridge north of Cambridge, above steep roadside embankments covered in plastic shrouds containing the desiccated remains of trees. Occasionally the barren landscape is punctuated by a flash of green where a young hawthorn or a fledgling honeysuckle has emerged apparently against the odds, but their shock of life is an exception in the treeless landscape. The new 21-mile road between Cambridge and Huntingdon cost £1.5bn and was opened in 2020 to fulfil a familiar political desire: growth. One of Britain's biggest infrastructure projects of the past decade, it was approved by the secretary of state for transport over the heads of locally elected councillors. National Highways, the government-owned company that builds and maintains Britain's A roads, promised that the biodiversity net gain from the construction project would be 11.5%; in other words, they pledged the natural environment would be left in a considerably better state after the road was built than before. But five years on from the opening of the A14, the evidence is otherwise, and National Highways has admitted biodiversity and the environment have been left in a worse state as a result of the road project. Empty plastic tree guards stretch for mile after mile along the new road, testament to the mass die-off of most of the 860,000 trees planted in mitigation for the impact of the road. Culverts dug as a safe route for animals such as newts and water voles are dried up and litter-strewn, while ponds designed to collect rainwater and provide a wildlife habitat are choked with mud and silt. With concerns that the rollback of environmental protections in Labour's planning and infrastructure bill will make it easier for developers to destroy nature, Edna Murphy, a Liberal Democrat on Cambridgeshire county council, is calling for MPs on the environmental audit committee to investigate the multimillion-pound failure of the A14 project. 'National Highways has resisted attempts by local representatives to discover what it is up to,' Murphy said. 'We have struggled over years to find out basic facts about the death of nearly all of the 860,000 trees that were originally planted and what has happened subsequently in terms of replanting. 'How can they be allowed to get away with this? How can anyone have confidence in promises about environmental mitigations in any national infrastructure projects in the future?' Murphy and her Lib Dem colleague Ros Hathorn believe the failure of the environmental improvements created in mitigation for the A14 are a shocking example of how powerful developers make environmental pledges in order to gain planning permission, which are then not upheld. They began asking questions of National Highways in 2021 when it became obvious from the scale of the tree die-off that something had gone wrong. They asked for details of how many trees were planted, how many had died, and for regular reports on the tree planting. A slide presentation in 2022 to Murphy and Hathorn indicated 70% of the 860,000 trees originally planted had died. In late 2023, Martin Edwards, a National Highways project manager, suggested to local councillors the die-off may have been only 50%. He said two re-plantings had taken place since the die-off, both of which had also subsequently failed. He blamed this on the policy to replant the same tree in the same place 'and keep your fingers crossed'. Edwards insisted that lessons had been learned and that in 2023 National Highways had carried out a full soil survey and a three-month tree analysis. This revealed they had planted the wrong species in the wrong place, and provided valuable lessons about the most appropriate season in the year to plant a tree, he said. Nicole Gullan, principal ecologist at the ecology consultancy Arbtech, said she was surprised by the approach: 'Tree planting on this scale should have been underpinned by ecological due diligence, including soil sampling, hydrological and geotechnical surveys, and an adaptive management plan to address potential failures. Proper reporting and mapping of planting locations is also essential for long-term monitoring and accountability.' A third replanting of 165,000 trees – at an estimated cost of £2.9m – took place over the autumn and winter of 2023-2024. National Highways promised to share details of their surveys and a new planting plan with Cambridgeshire council's biodiversity team. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion But in a report this June, council officers said the information had never been passed to them despite repeated requests. 'Documents that were provided to the group were basic overviews and did not contain the detailed information requested,' the officers said. 'The council therefore did not have evidence of where and why the planting had failed, which would be crucial to inform the replanting strategy, ensuring improved planting success.' Today, parts of the A14 where trees should be thriving still resemble a desert, and the whereabouts of the 165,000 new trees remain a mystery. 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From 2026, biodiversity net gain will be mandatory for big infrastructure such as the A14 road. But Becky Pullinger, head of land management for the Wildlife Trusts, said developers had to be held to account once the mandate came in, so that recreated habitats had a fighting chance of survival. A recent report showed that only a third of ecological enhancements promised by housebuilders were fulfilled. Pullinger said the example of the A14 showed how important it was that harm to wildlife was avoided in the first place, reducing the need for compensation planting. 'The failures highlight the challenges of trying to recreate mature habitats: it takes years, if not decades, for saplings to turn into woodland and provide much needed spaces for the wildlife [affected] by development,' she said. A National Highways spokesperson said: 'We take our responsibility to the environment very seriously. The A14 upgrade project was not limited to just improving the road; our ongoing environmental work remains a long-term project that we will continue to monitor and support. Between October 2023 and April 2024 – the optimum planting season – 165,000 trees and shrubs were planted. These comprised 16 different species specially selected to enhance the surrounding areas and habitats. Our latest survey showed that nearly 90% of these trees have survived. Nationally, we continue to monitor, evaluate and adapt our practices to respond to a rapidly changing climate to meet the challenges that it brings.'
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Police arrest more than 20 protesters supporting Palestine Action after group designated as terrorist organisation
Police have arrested more than 20 protesters supporting Palestine Action after a ban on the group came into effect. The protest group was officially proscribed as a terrorist organisation from midnight on Saturday after a last-minute legal challenge to delay it failed. The Metropolitan Police said on Saturday afternoon that they had been held on suspicion of committing offences under the Terrorism Act 2000 following a protest in London's Parliament Square. "The group is now proscribed and expressing support for them is a criminal offence," the force added. "Arrests are being made." MPs overwhelmingly voted in favour of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's decision to ban the protest group under the Terrorism Act 2000 on Wednesday and Lords have approved the move. The law change adds Palestine Action to the list of banned organisations along with the likes of al Qaeda, ISIS and Hezbollah, and makes membership of, or support for, the direct action group a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Even wearing a T-shirt or badge with the group's name on attracts a maximum six-month sentence. On Saturday, a large number of Metropolitan Police officers circled around dozens of protesters carrying placards that said: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action". Officers were met with cries of "Met Police you are puppets of the Zionist state" and "leave them alone". Others were heard shouting: "British police off our streets" and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free". A woman seen lying on the floor in handcuffs was carried away by officers and put in a police van. She said was heard saying: "Free Palestine, stop the genocide, I oppose genocide, I support the rights of the Palestinian people, I support freedom of speech, I support freedom of assembly". A large group of people crowded around to film the scene. Officers placed her in a vehicle before returning to the square's Mahatma Ghandi statue. Chants of "shame" were directed at the police. Most of the officers dispersed at around 2.10pm. Ms Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action after two Voyager aircraft were allegedly damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on 20 June, which police said caused around £7m worth of damage. Even wearing a T-shirt or badge with the group's name on attracts a maximum six-month sentence. On Friday, the High Court heard the decision to ban the group was taken before the aircraft were allegedly damaged and as early as March this year. Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, is seeking to bring a legal challenge against the Home Office with a hearing for permission to bring a judicial review set to take place during the week of 21 July. On Friday, her lawyers applied for "interim relief" to temporarily block the legislation from coming into force until that hearing, arguing the Irish author Sally Rooney, who wrote Normal People, was among supporters who fear the "ramifications". But three judges, including the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, refused refused a bid to pause the ban coming into effect pending any Supreme Court bid at about 10.30pm on Friday, less than two hours before the ban was due to come into force. In their judgment, the judges said: "The role of the court is simply to interpret and apply the law. "The merits of the underlying decision to proscribe a particular group is not a matter for the court... Similarly, it is not a matter for this court to express any views on whether or not the allegations or claims made by Palestine Action are right or wrong." Please refresh the page for the latest version.
North Wales Chronicle
an hour ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Starmer and Macron hope for ‘progress' on defence and migration at summit
The two leaders will hold a summit when the French President travels to the UK for a state visit next week, with the two leaders speaking on Saturday ahead of Mr Macron's journey. Issuing a readout of the conversation between the Prime Minister and Mr Macron, a Downing Street spokesperson said Sir Keir 'looked forward to welcoming the President to the UK next week, with both leaders agreeing that the state visit will provide a historic opportunity to showcase the breadth of the UK-France relationship. 'Turning to the UK-France summit on Thursday, they hoped to make good progress across a wide range of our joint priorities including migration, growth, defence and security.' The two leaders are also due to host a meeting of the coalition of the willing while Mr Macron is in Britain, with the two leaders expected to dial in to speak to other allied nations who are looking to support any future peace deal in Ukraine. There have been extensive talks between the two nations on migration, and the summit comes as the UK has been repeatedly pushing the French authorities to do more to prevent small boats from crossing the Channel. The number of people who have arrived in the UK by small boat passed 20,000 earlier this week. Downing Street welcomed action from French officers on Friday, after reports suggested knives had been used to puncture a boat in waters off the French coast. A Number 10 spokesman said: 'We welcome action from French law enforcement to take action in shallow waters, and what you have seen in recent weeks is a toughening of their approach.' Existing rules have been changed to allow police officers to intervene when dinghies are in the water. Those alterations have not yet come into effect, but reports on Friday suggested tougher action was already being taken.
