Is Britain a ‘soft touch’ on immigration? VOTE NOW

French politicians have called Britain a “soft approach” on immigration following the deaths of 12 migrants in the Channel earlier this week.

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in a statement that the UK was a place “where you can work without papers and where you have little chance of being deported”.

Darmanin is said to have called for a UK-EU migration treaty to curb border crossings in the wake of the tragedy. But Downing Street has rejected this, with a spokesman saying: “We have no plans to be part of an EU asylum scheme, but we will continue to work with European partners to close smuggling routes and crush those criminal gangs.”

The French minister’s comments were also echoed by the mayor of Calais, who accused Britain of being “hypocritical” over the Channel crisis and compared the UK to “El Dorado” for migrants.

Natacha Bouchart said France and Britain should confront each other over illegal migrants because of the laxity in tackling black market labour.

Referring to employment laws in England, she said: “We suffer from this hypocrisy.

“At some point we will have to confront this government” to avoid “fifty years from now we will still be at the same level, where people want to go to England because it is still an El Dorado.”

A heated argument broke out on GB News between presenters Adam Brooks and Nina Myskow.

Brooks argued that the minister was right in his claim, while Myskow fought back, saying that many European countries face the same problem as Britain.

“I’ve been talking about this for 10 years, we have a huge problem with illegal immigration in this country and it’s only getting worse,” he said.

“You have to be very naive to believe that these people don’t just come to this country for what they can get. They get free housing, free food, free medical treatment, free travel in some cases.

“Why didn’t they settle in some of the different countries they traveled through to get here? A lot of them call us ‘El Dorado’, they think they’re going to get rich. They work for these delivery apps or taxi services.

“That’s without the danger to our society, we don’t know who they are or what they’ve done. These are people who stab and shoot people. Enough is enough.”

However, Myskow shook her head, calling his comments “inflammatory” and saying Brooks “cannot substantiate” his remarks.

Is Britain a ‘soft touch’ on immigration? Vote now in the poll above and have your say in the comments section below