Border exploitation

Yesterday morning, around 16 people, including small children and a heavily pregnant woman, landed on Dungeness beach in Kent. They had crossed the English Channel in just a small boat and a rubber ring. This is not only illegal but extremely dangerous – and the number of such crossings has increased dramatically. In 2018, fewer than 500 people were thought to have entered the UK this way; this year, more than 3,000 have already done so.

The Commons Home Affairs Committee has now launched an inquiry into the causes. Refugee campaigners point to evictions from the camps in Calais; local MP Pierre-henri Dumont blames the “British law and way of life”. “Migrants in Calais,” he said, “would rather live clandestinely in the UK than claim asylum in France.” Nigel Farage, who has made this issue his own, insists that Britain is perceived as a soft touch.

The French do need to take responsibility for a problem that begins at their end: migrants are supposed to apply for asylum in the first country they arrive at. But Britain needs to get its act together, too. Criminal gangs are exploiting vulnerable people, putting their lives at risk, presumably in exchange for cash and, quite possibly, modern-day slavery.

The EU referendum offered a chance to “take back control” over our borders and that is clearly something we do not currently enjoy. Even when many migrants are processed and their applications are rejected, they melt away into the population. If it was understood that they cannot do this, if the gangs were confronted and routes shut down, the UK could make significant strides towards ending this cruel practice.