Desperate people, political inertia and Twitter letter
THE migrant crisis and ongoing political ramifications continued to dominate the comment sections in newspapers and online publications.
Daily Mail
Dan Wootton said it should never have taken 27 “heart-breaking” deaths for the Government to realise the catastrophic illegal Channel crossings must be stopped at any cost.
“There’s no doubt the French government has blood on its hands; their inertia has been pathetically and transparently politically motivated to get back at post-brexit Britain and boost Emmanuel Macron’s pre-election popularity,” he said. “Sitting back and watching as desperate people put to sea in death-trap dinghies is quite simply criminal negligence.” He said, however, that the “squeamish British establishment” is just as culpable.
“The demand for gangs to provide a journey to British shores has become overwhelming because the migrants – who, it must never be forgotten, are already safe in France – know the welcome mat will be rolled out on their arrival.
“The left’s solution of providing more safe routes from France is utter madness, tantamount to an open borders policy that would encourage more dangerous crossings into France from Africa. Boris [Johnson] needs to realise public anger is skyrocketing and, another year of this calamity, could cost him Number 10.”
Daily Express
Ross Clark said that for months Britain and France have been arguing about coastguard and police patrols.
“But coastguards cannot watch every inch of coast all the time,” he said. “We need to get better at catching those running these operations and closing them down. How much better it would be if France and Britain could agree that any migrant who crosses the Channel or is caught on the journey, should be automatically returned to France and instructed to claim asylum there, if they want to.
“The whole principle of asylum is that you claim it in the first country you reach – you don’t shop around for the best deal. If you do, you are an economic migrant, not a refugee.”
The Independent
Sean O’grady said there was some irony in the fact that about the only person the French are not allowing into their country is Priti Patel.
“In an unusually blunt diplomatic snub, her day trip to Calais on Sunday has been cancelled – and so have the scheduled face-to-face talks with the French authorities about the loss of life in the English Channel.” he said.
“Apparently the French didn’t like the tone of Boris Johnson’s letter to the president of the republic, nor that he shoved it out on Twitter.
“The migrant crisis is bigger than Britain, and indeed bigger than Britain and France. It is precisely the kind of thing that demands action at a supranational scale. Johnson’s pompous attempt at a billet-doux to President Macron was the immediate cause of French irritation, but it is Brexit that has clearly poisoned relations.”