Stop Cop26 obsession... heat is rising on PM over immigration

TORY MPs from the former ‘Red Wall’ seats seized from Labour in 2019 have begun to revolt against the UK Government’s obsession with the Cop26 conference on global warming.

They want Ministers to turn their minds instead to the alarming rise in illegal migration across the Channel.

They have a point. Many British people view this as one of the most urgent problems facing the country and they would like to know what Boris Johnson is going to do about it, especially since the French authorities seem to be incapable of decisive or effective action.

Criminal people traffickers, more confident by the day, are now smuggling so many men and women across the Straits of Dover that the known daily total recently reached 1,185.

The Mail on Sunday does not blame the migrants for trying to reach our country. We understand that our prosperous, peaceful and safe civilisation is a beacon to those in lands which are less fortunate. Nor do we oppose immigration as such. Every country needs some migrants and benefits from them.

So it is quite reasonable, and in fact desirable, for Tory MPs to be concerned about this issue and to expect a reasoned and practical response from Downing Street.

There are huge concerns today about the worrying developments in which migrants are being used as weapons against the West, on the border between Belarus and Poland.

Uncontrolled migration is unfair on those who follow the rules. The remarks made by the outgoing head of the Border Force, which we report today, suggest a high-level unwillingness to grasp that proper frontier control is a necessary part of any civilised state.

It is time that the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary turned their minds to ending this intolerable scandal.