Why this migration deal simply won’t work

FoR all the grandiose claims of a major breakthrough, even a cursory glance at the new migration agreement cobbled together at the Brussels summit is enough to tell that it simply won’t work.

it sounds eminently sensible, of course. screening centres to be set up in both Europe and North Africa to process asylum claims, with unsuccessful applicants being returned to their country of origin. All EU countries would accept their share of genuine refugees, easing the burden on italy and Greece, and external borders would be strengthened.

But in truth, it raises more questions than it answers.

For a start, where would failed applicants safely be sent back to, given that so many come from chaotic and dangerous states? And where would future boatloads of refugees be directed to, especially now that italy is refusing them permission to land?

only yesterday 100 migrants, including children, drowned in the Mediterranean – a tragic reminder of the desperate lengths to which these people will go to reach the promised land of Europe.

The Mail has huge sympathy for their plight, but the fact is that no EU country is volunteering to take more refugees under the new agreement. indeed, we now have the absurdity that in schengen Europe, draconian frontier controls are being erected to keep them out.

The schengen treaty – to which 22 of the 28 EU countries are signatories – is a central tenet of the European project, facilitating border-free travel between member states. But with so many countries openly flouting its rules, the question now is whether schengen can survive.

Yet bizarrely, in spite of the havoc it’s causing across the Channel, diehard Cabinet Remainers including Chancellor Philip hammond and Business secretary Greg Clark insist that free movement is a good thing and that we should stay signed up to it.