A former Immigration Minister has told GB News that the Labour Government “shouldn’t be paying France any more money” after “stark” new illegal migrant data.
Speaking to the People’s Channel, Kevin Foster hit out at the French authorities for failing to prevent illegal migrants from crossing the Channel into Britain, despite a hefty pay packet from Sir Keir Starmer.
As the migrant crisis continues to escalate in Britain, new data has revealed that around two-thirds of small boat migrants successfully reach Britain.
French authorities stopped 22,476 attempted crossings, equating to a prevention rate of just 35 per cent, despite Britain contributing more than £700million towards patrols, boat destruction, drone surveillance and camp policing.
Reacting to the figures on GB News, Mr Foster said: “The figures are pretty stark, and whilst it says the number of crossings stopped is just over 22,000 compared to 41,000 making it across the Channel, you have to think, what did those 22,000 do?
“Basically what happened is they were stopped crossing one day, told not to be a naughty boy and don’t try that again, and then almost certainly probably tried the next day and once they got across there.
“So a lot of that 22,000 will be in the 41,000, because there isn’t an agreement to then move people on.”
Criticising the lack of French efforts despite being paid by the UK, Mr Foster declared that the Labour Government should “not pay them any more” unless a “genuine deterrent” is in place.
Kevin Foster has declared that the UK ‘shouldn’t be paying France any more money’ as ‘stark figures’ showed the lack of illegal migrants preventing from crossing the Channel
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GB NEWS / REUTERS
He explained: “I think in terms of looking at what further we should do with France, we shouldn’t be paying more unless there’s a clear plan for a couple of things.
“The first is a genuine deterrent to set off from the beaches, and that means doing what I think Belgium does, which is they will be intercepted in shallow waters – we’re not talking deep water where someone would genuinely be at risk of drowning.”
Mr Foster continued: “And then when people go back to the Pas de Calais, and this is actually something we could genuinely work together on, looking to remove people who are either had tried to cross or are waiting to cross from the Pas de Calais, because the only population group that’s more fed up with this crisis than the people of Dover is the people of Calais.”
Quizzed by host Miriam Cates on what would happen if the Labour Government stopped paying France to patrol their borders, Mr Foster highlighted that the main use of Britain’s funding goes on “police and border patrol officers”.
New data has revealed that around two-thirds of small boat migrants successfully reach Britain | GETTY
He explained: “From what we’ve known in the past, the sort of things that are being funded are extra police patrols on the beach.
“We are talking about areas under French, not British jurisdiction, so we’re not able to deploy our own law enforcement or military to those locations.
“So effectively, we pay the French to have more police officers to patrol them. Some of it’s been around funding for things like surveillance operations and work on intelligence work, potential detention as well.”
Mr Foster then stressed the key issue in preventing small boat crossings, which is removing the “incentive” for illegal migrants to cross in the first place.
He told GB News: “But a lot of this, yes, it will make it harder to cross, but it doesn’t remove the core incentive to cross.
“And of course, the biggest question of all of is what do you do with people whose home country is going to be very difficult to take them back to the country they’ve arrived from.
Mr Foster told GB News that there needs to be a ‘genuine deterrent’ from the French
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GB NEWS
“What do you do? That’s where schemes like Rwanda come in, and of course, it’s no surprise that many countries in Europe are now looking at going down that type of path.”
The ex-Immigration Minister concluded: “These people are bringing a lawless trade to the Pas de Calais.
“The gangs that are operating in the Pas de Calais don’t just engage in people smuggling, they engage in all sorts of violence and other behaviour, including money laundering.
“This is a problem that has a big impact on us. Even if you took away the hotels, its the link between paying a people smuggler and ending up in the UK and there’s no way you can be sent back. That is the core thing that drives this.”
In a statement, a Home Office spokesman said: “This Government is bearing down on small boat crossings. We have stopped 40,000 crossing attempts since this Government came into office through our joint work with the French.
“We have removed or deported almost 60,000 people who were here illegally. Our pilot deal with the French means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back.
“The Home Secretary has also announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times, removing the incentives that bring illegal migrants to the UK and scaling up the return of those with no right to be here.”