BRITAIN FACES MIGRANT ‘DISASTER’
Why changes to asylum rules could spark surge from Calais
A FRENCH proposal to let migrants claim asylum in Britain while still in Calais came under fire yesterday.
The plan by senior French politicians was dismissed as a potential “disaster” for Britain.
Opponents warned it would make border control more difficult and act as “a magnet” for a further influx of people.
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and others in France want to scrap the Le Touquet treaty. Under the treaty, British immigration officials work in France, checking passports and preventing many asylum seekers reaching the UK.
But with the new proposal, all claims for asylum would be settled in France without the migrants having to wait to reach Britain.
Xavier Bertrand, a senior Calais politician, warned: “If the British
Government doesn’t want to open this discussion, we will tell you the Touquet Agreement is over.”
Mr Bertrand confirmed yesterday that he wants a “new treatment” for asylum seekers trying to reach Britain, allowing them to claim at a “hotspot” in France.
This would be a radical departure from current rules known as the Dublin Regulation, which say refugees should register in the first European country they arrive in.
Critics here warned the French proposal would invite a further mass influx of UK-bound migrants, adding to the 9,000 already at the infamous Jungle camp in Calais.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd will travel to Paris today to discuss security issues with French Interior Minster Bernard Cazeneuve.
Discussions of the migrant treaty are likely to feature prominently.
Worried MPs called on the French to see sense last night. Charlie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover, said: “The current situation in Calais is shameful. We do need a new and stronger treaty with France.
“We must work together to dismantle the Jungle migrant camp. We need a new Dover Patrol guarding the English Channel.
“And we must work together to protect our truckers, whose lives are being put at risk in Calais.
“But it would be a big mistake to enable people to apply for UK asylum from France. It would just make Calais a bigger magnet for migrants.
“Axing the treaty altogether would be a disaster for France and Britain. Britain and France must work together to deal with the causes of the problem once and for all.”
Mr Elphicke stressed that axing the treaty “would simply not work”.
Instead it should be strengthened so migrants can be efficiently registered and either given asylum or sent back to their homeland.
Sir Peter Ricketts, the former British ambassador to Paris, also warned the plan would make France even more of a magnet for refugees.
He said hundreds of thousands of migrants were arriving in Greece and Italy but at the moment nowhere near that amount had reached Calais.
But the French plan would encourage people to “chance their arm, make an asylum claim, hope that they might get to the UK”.
He added: “It wouldn’t help the French deal with the problem in Calais. I think it would make it worse.”
UKIP MEP Bill Etheridge, who visited the Jungle last week, said Mr Sarkozy “needed to remember that it was France’s membership of the EU and Schengen that allows the migrants to gather in Calais”.
Former chief inspector of borders John Vine warned that Britain would need to be confident that proper checks would be carried out if the French politicians got their way.
He said: “If border controls were removed back to the UK, there would be more reliance on the French in checking people have the right travel documents and checking all the vehicles, in a way that’s now done jointly – and with lots of British money.”
The Home Office said: “We remain committed to working together to protect our shared border in Calais.”
IT IS not surprising that the French people are sick of the Jungle camp at Calais. Who wouldn’t be? This dangerous, squalid tented slum that houses thousands of migrants should never have been allowed to develop.
Now some French politicians want to do what they have long threatened and end British border controls in Calais – meaning that there would be no barrier to the Jungle moving to the UK.
This would be intolerable. The French cannot absolve themselves of all responsibility. Under the rule known as the Dublin Regulation refugees must register in the first European (safe) country they arrive in. It is that country’s duty to take charge of their asylum claim. The worry is that another suggestion – to create migrant “hotspots” in France in order to ease the pressure on Calais – would simultaneously encourage many more to work their way through France and thence to our shores.
For hundreds of years Calais has been fought over, the cause and catalyst of animosity with France. Now it is essential that the French do not simply sweep the Jungle our way. They must play their part in dealing with the migrant crisis and must also work with the British rather than against us.