Jubilant migrants heading for Britain across the Channel have been pictured smiling, posing for selfies, and making victory signs in damning images that mock Labour’s pledge to control illegal entries into the UK. On what is predicted to be one of the hottest days of the year, these photographs of a boat packed with mostly young men leaving France for England will likely ramp up the political temperature on Sir Keir Starmer.
The mass of migrants were dangerously crammed into a dinghy leaving the shore in Gravelines, France, today (June 30). But despite the perilous journey ahead many of those on board seemed in triumphant mood, with some even appearing to be live streaming the start of the crossing on their mobile phones.
It comes as the Government vowed to crack down on people smuggling gangs across the Channel, while crossings are at a record high for this point in the year, totalling 18,518.
According to the Times, the UK and France are expected to announce a one-in, one-out migrant returns deal to crack down on English Channel crossings. Plans for a pilot could be revealed this week, marking one year since Sir Keir Starmer’s Government came to power.
The deal could see migrants who arrive in the UK by crossing the English Channel in small boats returned to France, while the UK would accept those with legitimate claims to join family already in the country.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has been leading the talks, and she is credited with strengthening relationships with French counterparts. French officials have also agreed to changes that would allow police patrolling the coast to take action in the sea when migrants climb into boats from the water.
But Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the UK was already paying France vast sums of money and migrants were still coming to Britain.
He said: “We pay the French half a billion pounds to wave the boats off from Calais, and in return we get a migrant merry-go-round where the same number still come here.
“The French are failing to stop the boats at sea, failing to return them like the Belgians do, and now instead of demanding real enforcement, Labour are trying a ‘one in, one out’ gimmick.”
