Immigration. It is a word that reduces our politicians to paralysis.
Time and again we have heard the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary promising to act tough and confront the issue head-on. They were at it again last week. But what do these promises amount to?
We will allow readers to make up their own minds based on two recent reports from our research-based affiliate Brexit Facts4EU.Org which we summarise below.
The first covers the Prime Minister’s efforts to galvanise co-operation amongst Europe’s leaders for a concerted response to the migrant boats’ crisis.
The second provides data on the colossal difference between the numbers still coming across the English Channel from France compared with the numbers being deported, despite £0.8bn in UK funds being thrown at the French government to stop the illegal traffic on the French coast.
Almost no-one in Europe is taking Rishi Sunak’s ‘Stop the Boats’ plan seriously
Leaving the party conference in rainy Manchester behind him, the Prime Minister flew off to a sunny summit in Granada in Spain last Thursday where he hosted a fringe meeting on migration with Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni.
Just four countries of the 41 which attended the summit attended the PM’s event, and the government’s heralded ‘8-point plan’ to tackle migration met with no majority support and little interest from the other countries present.
As with so many other government announcements on the subject, fine words have yet again been met with precious little substance.
France ‘exports’ over 3 times as many illegal migrants to the UK as it has deported worldwide
Those who doubted the wisdom of paying the French government nearly £1billion to stem the flow of illegal Channel crossings will feel completely vindicated by the latest figures.
Since the start of last year Macron’s France has ‘exported’ more than three-and-a-half times as many illegal boat migrants to the UK as it has deported to all other countries in the world combined.
The official figures are stark and unambiguous:
- France has ‘exported’ 57,188 of its illegal migrants to the UK since the start of last year.
- France has only legally deported 15,950 in the same period – to all countries of the world combined.
We are grateful to our affiliate Brexit Facts4EU.Org for their latest research, and we provide links to the two articles in full below.
Rishi Sunak’s ‘Stop the boats’ plan
Report on French ‘exports’ of illegal migrants to the UK via boats versus official worldwide deportations
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CIBUK thanks its Affiliated Organisation Brexit Facts4EU.Org for permission to republish these articles.
Main image: montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023
