11 hours ago
We cannot trust the French to solve our migration woes
A new deal with France over illegal migration is to be announced when Emmanuel Macron makes his state visit next month. Still being negotiated with Bruno Retailleau, the French interior minister, this may offer some relief to the beleaguered communities directly impacted by the record numbers now landing daily on the south coast. The detail matters, of course, but the bottom line is that for every migrant who crosses the Channel, Britain would be entitled to return another: 'one in, one out'.
This would certainly be an improvement on the status quo. Most people are heartily sick of watching French border forces and navy turn a blind eye to the mass exodus from their shores to ours. So far this year, more than 18,000 illegals have arrived here by boat, despite the British paying the French up to half a million pounds a day to stop them. We are now asked to believe that this scandalous state of affairs is about to change overnight.
Yet as one of its first acts, Labour cancelled the Rwanda scheme. For all its faults, that plan offered both a speedy remedy and a powerful deterrent to unlawful migration. The deal now being negotiated with France, by contrast, promises no such thing. What is to stop illegal migrants who are returned to France from trying again? The odds on success will still be high. Compared to the strong likelihood of being sent to Rwanda, many will fancy their chances under this deal. However cordial the new entente may be, the security of our borders will be at the mercy of whoever is in charge in Paris. History suggests that this might not be the most reliable basis for British immigration policy.
