France sparks outrage after blaming 12 migrant deaths in Channel on Britain's 'soft touch' rules
Gérald Darmanin spoke about there is 'little chance of being expelled'
PA
France's interior minister has claimed Britain’s 'soft-touch' rules for illegal migrants are to blame for the latest English Channel small boat disaster.
A pregnant woman and six children were among those who lost their lives when their boat was "ripped apart" and sank off the northern French coast of Cap Gris-Nez on Tuesday.
Gérald Darmanin said in his statement the UK was a place "where you can work without papers and where you have little chance of being expelled".
He added the latest victims were "people from the Horn of Africa" and that only eight of the 80-odd people, most of them Africans from Eritrea, had life jackets, and the boat was struggling in turbulent seas.
Gérald Darmanin spoke about how there is 'little chance of being expelled'
PA
Darmanin has reportedly called for a UK-EU migration treaty to curb crossings in the wake of the tragedy. But Downing Street rejected this, with a spokesman saying: "We have no plans to be part of an EU scheme on asylum, but we will continue to work with European partners to shut down smuggling routes and smash those criminal gangs."
Eyewitnesses on a beach in Wimereux, near the site of Tuesday’s incident, described how a large group of migrants were crammed into a small dinghy, many with their legs dangling over the sides.
The boat, filmed by media for more than an hour as it slowly made its journey out to sea as passers-by walking dogs strolled on the beach, is said to have been approached by a patrol boat flying a French flag with a crew member seen tossing more life jackets to the migrants. Meanwhile, a larger French patrol boat shadowed the dinghy from a distance.
Angele Vettorello, from Utopia 56, which supports displaced and homeless migrants in France, told reporters: "The crossings, it’s not going to stop. Even this morning we saw more than 200 people trying to cross and have been stopped (by police). We see it every month… every death at the border, the people don’t stop crossing."
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French police officers patrolling the beach between Ambleteusse and WimereuxGETTYDozens of migrants continued to make the journey on Wednesday, with more people pictured being brought ashore in Dover, Kent, amid calm weather conditions at sea.
At the same time, a Calais charity told how around 200 migrants were spotted trying to embark on the crossing from the French coast earlier that morning – but were stopped by police. Home Office figures show 317 migrants made the journey in five boats on Tuesday, suggesting an average of around 63 people per boat.
This takes the provisional total number of migrants who have arrived in the UK so far this year after crossing the Channel to 21,720 – 3 per cent higher than this time last year (21,086) but 19 per cent lower than at the same point in 2022 (26,692), PA news agency analysis of Government data shows.
The latest tally means more than 8,000 arrivals have been recorded since Labour won the General Election and Sir Keir Starmer walked into No10 (8,146).
Up to 65 people were rescued in Tuesday’s incident, which the Prime Minister branded "shocking and deeply tragic", telling MPs in the Commons: "We must have a renewed determination to end this."
His comments came after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said "vital" efforts to dismantle "dangerous and criminal smuggler gangs" and to boost border security "must proceed apace".
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