Latest news with #ChrisPhilp
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
No fish deal until France gets serious on Channel boats: Tories urge PM to suspend EU deal amid fury at 'shocking' scenes of police 'waving off' hundreds of migrants near Calais
Labour will today be challenged to halt Sir Keir Starmer 's new fishing deal with the EU until France does more to help stop migrants crossing the Channel. Senior Tory MP Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, will call on the Government to 'immediately suspend' the 12-year agreement with Brussels. It comes after more than 1,100 migrants arrived in Britain after crossing the Channel on Saturday - the highest number recorded on a single day so far this year. The latest Home Office figures show that 1,195 arrived in 19 boats, bringing the provisional annual total so far to 14,812. This is 42 per cent higher than the same point last year (10,448) and 95 per cent up from the same point in 2023 (7,610), according to an analysis. French police were seen watching as migrants boarded at a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, and authorities were then pictured escorting the boats. France has intercepted just 38 per cent of boats this year, down from 45 per cent last year, 47 per cent in 2023, and 42 per cent in 2022. This is despite the UK agreeing a £480million deal with France to beef up its efforts to stop migrant crossings in 2023 under former prime minister Rishi Sunak. As part of his Brexit 'reset' deal announced last month, Sir Keir enraged British fishermen by allowing a further 12 years of access to UK waters for EU boats. The PM made the 11th-hour concession in order to get his wider 'reset' deal - which also included a new defence pact and an agrifood agreement - over the line. Mr Philp said he would challenge Home Secretary Yvette Cooper over both the fishing deal and French efforts to stop Channel migrants in Parliament. He told the Telegraph: 'The French are completely failing to stop these illegal immigrants, despite receiving hundreds of millions of pounds from the UK taxpayer to do so. 'They are also failing to intercept any boats at sea and return them as the Belgians do. It's time for the Government here to get serious about this. 'The 12-year fishing deal the UK Government recently proposed with the EU, which is itself outrageous, should be immediately suspended until the French actually stop all these illegal immigrants, including using interceptions at sea. 'And if they won't, the fishing deal should be cancelled. I'll be putting this to Yvette Cooper in Parliament on Monday. 'This Government is so weak they surrendered our fishing rights to the French for 12 years while at the same time the French stand by and watch tens of thousands of illegal immigrants flood into the UK. 'It's time for this madness to end.' Defence Secretary John Healey on Sunday admitted Britain had 'lost control of its over the last five years' as he responded to the 'shocking' scenes on Saturday. He added: 'We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi to pick them up.' The Cabinet minister said it is a 'really big problem' that French police are unable to intervene to intercept boats in shallow waters. He added the UK is pressing for the French to put new rules into operation so they can intervene. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said the French were 'taking Britain for fools'. He said: 'Since 2015 we have pledged and given the best part of £800million to the French. 'Their officers watched like tourists as over 1,000 young men made the illegal crossing to England. 'We are being taken for fools. We paid them to stop the boats. They only make a half-hearted effort to do so.' A Home Office spokesperson pointed to measures to share intelligence internationally, enhance enforcement operations in northern France and introduce tougher rules in its immigration legislation. 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security,' they said. 'The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice. 'That is why this Government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage.'
The Sun
16 hours ago
- General
- The Sun
People-smugglers are using boats ‘like taxis' says John Healey, as 1,194 cross channel in a DAY
Julia Atherley Jack Elsom Published: Invalid Date, BRAZEN people-smugglers used boats 'like a taxi' to pick up migrant masses from French beaches and ferry them to the UK. Police stood and watched as the gangs took advantage of calm seas on Saturday to launch 18 boats for the use of mostly young men. 4 4 A total of 1,194 people made the crossing successfully, the highest number in a day since 2022. Officials said only 184 were stopped — fewer than 15 per cent. Photos of smiling migrants in the boats crossing the Channel emerged later on social media. It comes despite a deal agreed in 2023 to pay the French £480million to stop the crossings. Defence Secretary John Healey described the weekend scenes from the French beaches as 'shocking'. He said: 'Truth is, Britain's lost control of its borders over the last five years.' He said the smugglers were dodging waiting cops by 'launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi'. Mr Healey said it was a 'really big problem' that, under French law, the police were not allowed to intervene once boats were in shallow waters. However, he said that 'for the first time' France had agreed to 'change the way they work' so boats could be intercepted once launched 'and not just on the shore'. It was a catastrophic mistake by our weak Prime Minister to cancel the Conservatives' Rwanda removals deterrent just days before it was due to start Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp The total of arrivals so far this year is 14,811, Home Office figures show — the most in the first five months of a year since data was first recorded in 2018. Scores of migrants board overloaded dinghies to make dangerous Channel crossing to UK - as French cops watch on With more good weather on the way, the number of crossings is expected to rise. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said Labour's claim that it would smash the gangs lay in tatters after 'the worst day of the worst year for illegal immigrants crossing the Channel'. He told The Sun: 'It was a catastrophic mistake by our weak Prime Minister to cancel the Conservatives' Rwanda removals deterrent just days before it was due to start. 'The Government now needs to demand that the French intercept these boats at sea and return them to France, like the Belgians do.' He added: 'The French interception rate on land is pathetic and those they catch are just released and then try again the next day. The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models Spokesman 'And every single illegal immigrant that arrives in the UK should be immediately removed to a place outside Europe. Then the crossings would soon stop. It's as simple as that. This madness must end.' A Home Office source said: 'We've developed strong co-operation with the French and it is important that they have agreed to disrupt these boats once they're in the water — and not just on the shore. 'This vital step now needs to be operationalised to protect border security and save lives.' The Home Office said international intelligence-sharing and enhanced enforcement in France would help to combat the problem. A spokesman said: 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. 'The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die as long as they pay. We will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models.' 4 4
Telegraph
19 hours ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Suspend EU fishing deal until France stops Channel migrant crossings, Starmer told
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to suspend Britain's fishing deal with the EU until France stops migrant Channel crossings. On Monday, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, will challenge the Government in the Commons to halt the controversial fishing deal until France makes good on its pledge to intervene and stop small boats at sea. France has committed to changing its laws so that police officers can stop the boats in shallow waters. They have previously refused to do so and instead shepherded migrants to the middle of the Channel, where they have been rescued by Border Force and RNLI boats. But France has so far failed to deliver on its promise despite the UK putting up £480 million over three years to fund extra officers and surveillance equipment on the beaches to stop migrants. On Saturday, French officers were seen standing on the beach taking pictures as a record 1,194 migrants set off and crossed the Channel to be rescued and brought ashore by British vessels. France stopped just 184 migrants from leaving on Saturday – less than 15 per cent of the total 1,378 who attempted the crossing. Local media reported that two gendarmes were injured while trying to stop a migrant boat from setting sail from Audinghen, near the Trou du Nez. 'The two gendarmes were stoned by the migrants,' said Marc Sarpaux, the town's mayor. The 1,194 people who landed on British shores on Saturday brought the total so far this year to 14,811 – the highest ever recorded in the first five months of a year and up 42 per cent on this time last year. So far this year, France has intercepted just 38 per cent of migrants – down from 45 per cent last year, 46.9 per cent in 2023 and 42.4 per cent in 2022. 'Time for Government to get serious' Mr Philp told The Telegraph: 'The French are completely failing to stop these illegal immigrants, despite receiving hundreds of millions of pounds from the UK taxpayer to do so. They are also failing to intercept any boats at sea and return them as the Belgians do. It's time for the Government here to get serious about this. 'The 12-year fishing deal the UK Government recently proposed with the EU, which is itself outrageous, should be immediately suspended until the French actually stop all these illegal immigrants, including using interceptions at sea. And if they won't, the fishing deal should be cancelled. 'I'll be putting this to Yvette Cooper [the Home Secretary] in Parliament on Monday. This Government is so weak they surrendered our fishing rights to the French for 12 years while at the same time the French stand by and watch tens of thousands of illegal immigrants flood into the UK. It's time for this madness to end.' Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said the French were 'taking Britain for fools'. He has previously proposed drafting in the marines to pick up migrants and return them to the French beaches. He told The Telegraph: 'Since 2015 we have pledged and given the best part of £800 million to the French. Yesterday, their officers watched like tourists as over 1,000 young men made the illegal crossing to England. 'We are being taken for fools. We paid them to stop the boats. They only make a half-hearted effort to do so.' 'UK pushing France to deliver on its pledge' On Sunday, John Healey, the Defence Secretary, said the UK was 'pushing' France to deliver on its pledge to start intercepting the small boats at sea, as he admitted that Britain had 'lost control of its borders'. Speaking on Sky News, he called Saturday's scenes 'pretty shocking' and blamed France for allowing smugglers to scoop up migrants like a 'taxi' service. 'I think yesterday tells us a really big problem, which is, you've got French police unable to intervene and intercept the boats when they're in shallow waters,' he said. 'That means we saw it. We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi to pick them up. 'Truth is, Britain's lost control of its borders over the last five years, and the last government last year left an asylum system in chaos and record levels of immigration.' Mr Healey said France had agreed to change the rules so police could intercept boats in the water as well as on shore, but had not yet put that into effect. 'They're not doing it, but for the first time for years, we've got the level of co-operation needed,' he said. 'We've got the agreement that they will change the way they work, and our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore.' Videos on TikTok showed migrants packed onto small dinghies smiling while making the dangerous crossing. The crossings come less than three weeks after the Prime Minister published the Government's plans to reduce net migration and toughen the requirements for migrants to work, live and study in the UK. They also come ahead of a critical by-election in Scotland on Thursday, at which Reform UK is seeking to repeat its success from the local elections in England.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
England's yellow and parched land: How soaring immigration and a 30-year failure to build reservoirs could trigger drinking water crisis
Just over 200 years ago, William Blake wrote of England's 'great and pleasant land' in the poem that would later be set to music as the hymn Jerusalem. Fast forward to the 21st century and the green and pleasant land, and its people, are in danger of becoming parched. This week ministers admitted that the country could run out of drinking water within 10 years as they unveiled plans to fast-track the building of two new reservoirs. Astonishingly, they will be the first new man-made bodies of water created for human consumption in more than three decades. There are fears that, without action, demand for drinking water could outstrip supply by the mid-2030s due to rapid population growth, crumbling assets, Nimby opposition and a warming climate. And that population growth is set to be fuelled by immigration. The UK population is projected to reach 72.5 million by mid-2032, up 4.9 million from 67.6 million in mid-2022, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The jump of 4.9 million is projected to be driven almost entirely by net migration, with natural change – the difference between births and deaths – projected to be around zero due to the aging population. Beyond 2032, the population is projected to continue to grow and pass 75 million in 2041. Writing for Mail Online today, shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: 'Water doesn't lie. It's a basic test of whether a country can support the people in it, and Britain is failing that test because Labour refuses to confront reality. 'The only serious solution is to tackle immigration head-on. 'We cannot keep adding the pressure and pretending the system will hold. We cannot build our way out of a problem we refuse to name. Until we slash migration numbers, the shortages will only get worse.' Last week, official figures showed net migration to the UK had halved to 431,000 last year compared with 860,000 across January to December 2023. This was after reaching a record high of 906,000 in the 12 months to June 2023. But although net migration is predicted to continue to fall in the years to come, the home-grown population is predicted to also shrink, as deaths outweigh births. It means that while the rate of population growth may slow, it is expected to inexorably climb. While politicians have long claimed immigration will have an impact on services such as housing, schools and the NHS, where everyone will get their drinking water has remained largely out of the spotlight until now. In England this year, the North West and North East both saw their driest start to a calendar year since 1929, while the country as a whole endured its driest February to April period since 1956. On Thursday The Environment Agency (EA) said Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, and Cumbria and Lancashire, moved from 'prolonged dry weather' to 'drought' status. Water companies in England have committed to bringing new reservoirs online, in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Suffolk, Kent, East Sussex and the West Midlands, with the potential to supply 670 million litres of extra water per day. But they are not expected to be ready until 2050. The Fen Reservoir project between Chatteris and March in Cambridgeshire is set to supply 87 million litres a day to 250,000 homes, and to be completed in 2036. The Lincolnshire reservoir south of Sleaford would provide up to 166 million litres a day for up to 500,000 homes, operational by 2040. It is the latter two that ministers have now designated as 'nationally significant', taking planning responsibility out of the hands of local politicians in order to streamline and fast-track them. Speaking to Times Radio Environment Minister Emma Hardy said: 'We've been in an infrastructure crisis because we haven't built the reservoirs that we need. 'In fact we built no reservoirs for the past 30 years. If we don't take action we are going to be running out of the drinking water that we need by the mid-2030s. 'This is why the Government's taking unprecedented action to make these reservoir projects... into projects that are nationally significant projects. 'This means the planning process is taken away from the local authority. The power is put into the hands of the Secretary of State... to make sure that we deliver them. 'It means that we can unlock tens of thousands of new homes and we can make sure that everybody has the drinking water that they desperately need.' A lack of water supplies is also holding back the construction of thousands of homes in parts of the country such as Cambridge, officials have warned. Labour has a target of building 1.5 million new homes by 2029. But demands from migrant-fueled population growth is not the only problem. Last year a report by the Environment Agency found that almost a fifth (19 per cent) of water supplies are lost by water companies before reaching customers' taps. This figure was down 10 percentage points since 2018 but the agency said By 2050, in order to support a growing population, the economy, food production and protect the environment, an extra five billion litres of water will be needed every day. Andy Brown, its water regulation manager, said: 'Drought is a naturally occurring phenomenon. As we see more impacts from climate change heavier rainfall and drier summers will become more frequent. This poses an enormous challenge over the next few decades. Prof Hayley Fowler, professor of climate change impacts at the University of Newcastle, said the dry and drought conditions the UK was experiencing were consistent with what was expected from climate models, especially in the summer months. 'With global warming we expect more prolonged and intense droughts and heatwaves punctuated by more intense rainfall, possibly causing flash floods. 'In recent years, we have experienced more of these atmospheric blocks, causing record heat and persistent drought,' she said. 'We are a northern European nation not short of rain ... this should be a wake-up call for the government, says Chris Philp This week, ministers admitted that parts of Britain could run out of drinking water within a decade. Let that sink in. We are a northern European nation not short of rain. We are certainly not an arid and sandy desert land. Yet apparently we can't guarantee water will come out of the tap. This should be a wake-up call for the government. And we know what drives demand for water: people do. So it is very relevant that for decades the British people have demanded, and politicians have promised, dramatically lower immigration. But for decades, successive governments, including the last one, have failed to deliver that. That failure has undermined faith and trust in democracy itself. It is now time to actually deliver what the public want. Under new leadership, the Conservative Party has recently brought forward a number of serious, credible and detailed plans to tackle immigration - all of which Labour voted against in Parliament in the past few weeks. While homes go unbuilt, schools burst at the seams, and A&Es overflow, Labour's answer is to import more people and deny there's even a problem. The Home Secretary admitted Labour's plans will only bring down net migration by microscopic 50,000 a year - nowhere near enough of a reduction. It is no surprise the Labour Government is failing to take action – Starmer once absurdly claimed immigration puts no strain on public services. Tell that to the families in waiting for a doctor's appointment, to the councillors facing impossible housing targets, or to the water companies now forced to warn that we may not have enough to go round. The government's target of building 300,000 homes per year would only cover net migration at 170,000 per year. Instead, Labour's housebuilding target could result in five out of seven new homes going to migrants. What about the British people who want to get on the housing ladder? Naturally, more people means more demand for water. Every person who arrives needs showers, sinks, sanitation. The more pressure we put on the network, the faster it fails, and the harder it becomes to plan or build for the future. And Labour's solution has not been to tackle the influx but rather to crush any local objections and build two giant reservoirs for 10 and 15 years' time. When the Conservatives recently brought forward a plan to slash immigration Labour torpedoed it using their huge Parliamentary majority. We put forward measures to implement automatic deportations of foreign criminals and illegal migrants; to end the human rights madness that stops us controlling our borders; and to create a binding annual cap on migration which is much, much lower than the numbers we have seen in recent years. Water doesn't lie. It's a basic test of whether a country can support the people in it, and Britain is failing that test because Labour refuses to confront reality. The only serious solution is to tackle immigration head-on. We cannot keep adding the pressure and pretending the system will hold. We cannot build our way out of a problem we refuse to name. Until we slash migration numbers, the shortages will only get worse.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Sir Keir Starmer has 'lost control of Britain's borders' after almost 1,200 small boat migrants cross the Channel in single day
Almost 1,200 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK in a single day - as one of Sir Keir Starmer 's ministers said control of Britain's borders had been lost. The Prime Minister faced criticism over what was called a 'day of shame' as a surge in dinghy crossings overwhelmed French and UK border patrol vessels. At Gravelines in northern France, more than half a dozen French police officers simply stood by yesterday morning and watched as migrants waded into the sea and scrambled on to an inflatable boat. One officer even took pictures on his phone before the packed boat headed out to sea towards the English coast. And today one of Sir Keir's senior cabinet ministers admitted the scenes were 'pretty shocking' as he said the UK had 'lost control of its borders over the last five years'. Defence Secretary John Healey this morning told Sky News that the latest crossings revealed a 'really big problem' - but insisted there was pressure being put on France for better co-operation and crackdowns ahead. Britain had agreed a deal in 2023 to pay France £480million over three years to stop the crossings, including £175million in the current financial year – more than £480,000 per day. Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp branded the latest Channel scenes 'a disgrace but sadly entirely expected'. He added: 'It's a shameful failure by the French to discharge their duties to stop illegal migration. The French are failing to stop these crossings by illegal immigrants.' And he condemned Sir Keir over what he called a 'day of shame for the Labour Government'. Mr Philp added: 'Over a thousand illegal immigrants in a single day, boats flooding the Channel, Border Force stretched beyond breaking point, and even fishing vessels drafted in because our maritime rescue services are overwhelmed.' And Richard Tice MP, deputy leader of Reform UK, said: 'It looks like we pay hundreds of millions to give French police officers photography lessons because they are certainly not providing any security. 'Frankly, the Government should be suing the French for our money back.' At least 18 migrant boats were seen leaving the French coast yesterday, carrying more than 1,000 people - with the Telegraph today putting the figure at 1,200. That exceeds the previous daily record of 825, set earlier last month. Mr Healey today told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News: 'Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday. 'The truth is, Britain's lost control of its borders over the last five years. The last government last year left an asylum system in chaos and record levels of immigration. 'But I think that yesterday tells us a really big problem which is that you've got French police unable to intervene to intervene and intercept the boats when they are in shallow water. 'We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming round like a taxi to pick them up.' Mr Healey insisted there was 'new co-operation' with the French suggesting their officials would intervene in the water. When asked whether he was 'hacked off' with France for not doing so now, Mr Healey said: 'They are not doing it, but we've got the agreement that they will change the way they work. 'Our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore.' British and French rescue services were yesterday forced to deploy 11 vessels and two aircraft. And at one point the coastguard even issued an appeal for fishing boats to assist a yacht and kayaks in trouble because all lifeboats and Border Force vessels were too busy rescuing migrants. A group of people including women and young children are seen waiting to try and catch a boat to the UK on Saturday at Gravelines in France Yesterday's arrivals were the highest since September 29 2022, when 1,131 migrants arrived on 23 boats, according to Home Office figures. The record number of arrivals is 1,305, set on September 3, 2022. Two patrol aircraft, four of the five Border Force vessels and seven French vessels, including a warship and two lifeboats, were deployed yesterday morning as a string of inflatable dinghies carrying hundreds of migrants were launched from multiple beaches. The skipper of the fishing vessel that was in the Channel for ten hours yesterday told the MoS: 'The Border Force were completely overwhelmed and they've been using the RNLI lifeboats from Dungeness and Dover all day. 'An English pleasure boat said it was taking on water and required assistance but by the time the coastguard finally had a lifeboat to spare, the boat had fixed the hole itself and was making its way back to the harbour.' He said the French authorities used their vessels to escort inflatable boats packed with migrants into English waters. A source even claimed a cross-Channel ferry had to alter its route to avoid two separate migrant boats, saying: 'There really seems to be absolutely no deterrent.' Since Labour took office in July last year, 36,859 people have been detected crossing the Channel on 667 small boats. French police stood back and watched as entire families packed themselves into an overcrowded small boat heading across the Channel to the UK this morning In a major speech in Germany last year, Sir Keir talked of a 'new spirit of cooperation' with Europe, saying: 'We cannot smash the smuggling gangs who perpetrate this vile trade without the help of our partners.' But it emerged last week that just 38 per cent of those trying to cross have been intercepted by French officials so far this year – down from 45 per cent last year and 46 per cent in 2023. The UK's £480million deal with is helping pay for a new detention centre in France, new surveillance drones, a joint Anglo-French command centre and the doubling of officers patrolling beaches from 400 to 800. A Home Office spokesman insisted the UK was 'strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders'.
