French anger as UK sits on migrant cash
FRANCE has accused the UK of breaking its word over the £54million it promised to help tackle migrant crossings.
Interior minister Gerald Darmanin (pictured) said ‘not one euro has been paid’ following his visit to Dunkirk on Saturday.
‘We are asking the British to keep their promises of financing because we are holding the border for them,’ he added.
He also called on the UK to take measures to reduce its ‘attractiveness’ for migrants without residency papers.
But business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng insisted Britain has worked ‘very effectively’ with the French government.
‘We’ve had 300 arrests, we’ve worked with them to do that, there have been 65 convictions and we both accept that there are something like 13,500 crossings that have been prevented through our working together,’ he said. Home secretary Priti Patel has previously threatened to withhold the funding unless more people were stopped from reaching the UK. In Dover on Saturday, dozens of people were seen being brought ashore by Border Force officials after making the perilous Channel crossing. A large number of people are also thought to have reached the UK on Friday. The Home Office has yet to provide numbers on those arrivals but data compiled by the PA news agency shows that more than 17,000 people have crossed the Dover Strait aboard small boats in 2021. Meanwhile, a charity said border officials’ use of controversial push-back tactics using jet-skis could have ‘horrific’ consequences. Kim Bryan, from Channel Rescue, told BBC Breakfast: ‘These boats are incredibly flimsy. Just the wash from jet-skis going around them could cause them to capsize.’