French diplomat: UK pledge to stop Channel boats ‘totally delusionary’
The UK has been subjected to criticisms by an ex-French diplomat over plans to tackle migrant crisis.
French president Emmanuel Macron faced fury after an ex-ambassador to Britain called Rishi Sunak’s “Stop The Boats” migrant pledge “delusionary”.
Paris was accused of seeing the Channel crisis “as an opportunity to fill their boots” as anger mounted over its failure to prevent dinghies leaving its shores.
It comes despite a £480 million payout from Britain, which is being used to double police on French beaches to 800. New figures suggest French authorities stopped 13,759, or 45.2 percent of migrants, this year compared with 45.8 percent last year.
There are UK fears last month’s riots across France have drawn officers away from the beaches.
But Sylvie Bermann, France’s ambassador to the UK from 2014 to 2017, said: “We have 150km of coast. It’s very difficult to prevent everyone from going to the UK, in particular if some are desperate to go there and also because you have smugglers. To expect that no one will cross the Channel is totally delusionary.”
Migration Watch UK chairman Alp Mehmet said: “Is it any wonder British taxpayers think they are being taken for a ride?
On top of bogus asylum seekers and criminal gangs, it seems the French government also sees the Channel mess as an opportunity to fill their boots.”
Dover Tory MP, Natalie Elphicke, said: “The reality isn’t an endless expanse of French beaches, it is a few regular points of departure which need to be policed properly, with joint patrols and a cross-Channel agreement to return boats to France.”
Senior Tory MP David Jones added: “If the best they can do is give a Gallic shrug of the shoulders, we should demand our £480million back and refuse to pay them a single cent more.”
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In June, Mr Sunak trumpeted a rise in French migrant interceptions. But the number has fallen over recent months.
French figures show those stopped on beaches from January to mid-August fell from 17,032 in 2022 to 13,759 this year.
Lee Anderson, the Tory deputy chairman, told the Daily Express: “If there are less boats being stopped by France, it’s clearly more important than ever that we continue stop the boats ourselves. Rishi has a great plan. Let’s give him some time, and the results will speak for themselves.”