Downing Street rejects French minister’s claim that illegal migrants are ‘rarely deported’ from the UK

Downing Street has rejected a French minister’s accusation that migrants are crossing the Channel because they are “rarely expelled from the UK”.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin accused the British government of making the UK attractive to illegal immigrants after 12 dead trying to cross border from France on tuesday.

“Often you can work without papers… (and) because there is no common immigration policy with the EU… people try a lot to go to Britain because they know that they probably cannot be deported from British territory,” Mr Darmanin said, according to French media.

He added that people want to reach Britain to reunite with their families or to “work in conditions that would not be acceptable abroad”. France“.

But Lord Keir StarmerThe official spokesman denied that the British labour market was a pull factor.

“No, and let’s be clear: the people responsible for this horrific trade are the trafficking gangs who profit from and take advantage of vulnerable people and vulnerable situations,” he said.

“And that is why this administration is so focused on dismantling their criminal operations and preventing these dangerous journeys.”

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Mr Darmanin also said that EU and the UK must negotiate a new migration deal, adding that British payments to France to stop people entering the country illegally cover only “a third of what we spend”.

Former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak agreed last year with French President Emmanuel Macron to pay £480 million to France more than three years to tackle small boat crossings.

The funding included a new detention centre in France, hundreds of additional French soldiers patrolling the beaches, additional drones, aircraft and surveillance technology, and closer cooperation with the national criminal agency and its French counterpart.

Just a day after 12 people died, including a pregnant woman and six children, 257 migrants who had travelled in five boats arrived in the UK on Wednesday.

At least 30 migrants have died or gone missing this year while trying to cross the Channel, according to the International Organization for Migration.

The total number of people arriving in small boats so far this year stands at 21,977, up 3% from the same point last year but down 20% from this time in 2022.

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Sir Keir met Mr Macron in the summer when they promised to strengthen cooperation in dealing with the increasing number of migrants crossing the border.

The Labour government has made tightening the Channel crossings one of its key priorities, but is taking a different approach to the previous Tory government.

Labour has dropped the controversial Rwanda deportation plan, announced the closure of the Bibby Stockholm ferry and amended parts of the Illegal Migration Act.

They have also replaced the Conservative slogan “stop the boats” with “crush the gangs”.

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