France and the UK have been blaming each other for an increase in illegal crossings across the English Channel. You can either blame France for their vengeance or British negligence in reforming labor laws, depending on whom you ask.
Priti Patel, British Home Secretary, will host Gerald Darmanin from France on Monday. They will discuss illegal channel crossings. Last week’s benchmark of 1,000 crosses per day was exceeded. Before the meeting began, both sides pointed fingers at each other to explain who caused the escalated migration crisis and diplomatic crisis.
Darmanin said the problem was in Britain’s failure to reform its labor law, which encourages illegal migration. “If the British overhauled their legislation…there would be no people in Calais and Dunkerque,”He listed French port cities that would-be migrants often gather in before crossing over to Britain on ramshack dinghies, which he then assessed.
The British labour market currently relies on “in many ways on an army of reserves, as Karl Marx would say, of irregular workers,”The minister spoke in interview to CNews Television.
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British sources claimed, speaking anonymously to British media, that France deliberately did not intercept the boats contrary to London’s promises.
“With the elections coming up they think it will only get worse. [Ministers] think it’s part of Macron’s Brexit punishment strategy,”According to one source, The Times was informed by another. France will elect its next president on April 20, 2022.
“Unfortunately we’re just part of a much bigger issue with the election, Northern Ireland and fishing,”According to a source at the Home Office, the newspaper was referring unresolved differences between France and the UK. “They don’t want to be using French taxpayers’ money ahead of the election.”
Boris Johnson Cabinet is said to be very pessimistic regarding its expectations of the Darmanin-Patel Meeting.
French officials claimed that it was impossible to capture many violators due to the sheer number of persons trying to cross the English Channel. Although Britain had agreed to pay extra for patrols in July, British officials were unable to deliver the funds as they continued their demands for more effective policing.
Darmanin made a public attack on London mid-October, claiming that it had not fulfilled its promises to pay French coast guards for reducing the number of crossings. The UK has since transferred the first installment of £54 million ($72million) to France, and hopes there will be a doubling of interception rates, The Times reported.
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