Fast-track to UK for migrants in Calais as PM bows to French

MIGRANTS at Calais will be fast- tracked into Britain under plans agreed by Theresa May as she bowed to further pressure from the French.

Adult migrants seeking to come to the UK via Calais will have applications processed within one month rather than six.

Children will see their waiting time slashed from six months to 25 days.

French president Emmanuel Macron said he and the PM had agreed a ‘Sandhurst Treaty’ to shake up the process for migrants camped at Channel ports. It had already emerged that the UK will pump £45million into beefing up security at the French ports, with cash funding extra fencing, CCTV and detection technology.

The deal was met with fury by politicians who said enough had been paid to the French to tackle the problem already. However, Mrs May said: ‘This is in our national interests, it is also in the interests of France to ensure that we have as secure a border as possible at Calais and other ports.’

A Downing Street source insisted the plans would reduce the ‘pull factor’ and, by speeding up the process, cases would be thrown out quicker.

This would mean fewer migrants waiting in Calais to see if they can come to the UK and less of a problem at the border. Mr Macron said the current situation was ‘not satisfactory’ and the deal would avoid a return to the notorious Jungle camp which attracted thousands of migrants.

France wants Britain to take more Calais migrants, especially unaccompanied children, but Mrs May declined to say how many would come to the UK.