Emmanuel Macron plays political games as the migrant crisis deepens

SIR – There was no justification for Emmanuel Macron’s reaction to Boris Johnson’s publication of his letter about the migrant crisis.

The British public need to know what Mr Johnson is saying on our behalf, and Mr Macron has hardly used diplomatic channels to publicise things that have upset him in the recent past. (One could mention his early and unfounded attacks on the AstraZeneca vaccine.)

Our opposition parties, meanwhile, should grow up, back the Government and stop using the toys Mr Macron throws out of his pram as tools to make things worse for the Prime Minister. They might also stop putting forward alternative ideas for solving the immigration problem that any right-minded person can see would be no more successful. Opposition for the sake of it is silly at the present time. Barbara Whitaker

Halton Village, Buckinghamshire

SIR – No military commander should release details of his tactics, and the same is true in politics, especially when the situation involves two sovereign nations, one of which is part of a much larger and determined force. Still, Boris Johnson has done it again. Lt-Col Richard King-Evans

Hambye, Manche, France

SIR – Why do migrants risk their lives to reach Britain and other European countries?

It is because these countries have for years been accepting every migrant who arrives legally or illegally from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, thereby encouraging millions to try their luck.

Even those refused asylum status are rarely deported. Many people around the world have learnt English and use the argument of having family members – often previous illegal migrants – in Britain. The generous benefits available are another reason.

The naivety and lack of unity of the governments of western Europe have led to the growth of a lucrative criminal business for gangs, and the failure to stop what has become an invasion of our shores.

Peter Fieldman

Madrid, Spain

SIR – The French interior minister has said that the attractiveness of the British jobs market is the reason that migrants are flooding to our shores.

Is this the very same market that was due to collapse after Brexit?

John Hinchsliff

Longridge, Lancashire

SIR – If the French are willing to allow unscrupulous operators to launch boats into the Channel, we should be prepared to rescue the passengers.

We should be proud as a nation that these homeless people have an ambition to be here.

In the meantime, in the Cotswolds (and other parts of Britain) we are short of people to milk cows and can offer warm, free temporary accommodation for those prepared to do it.

Simon L Weaver Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire