French officials demand deal to help stop Channel crossings is scrapped if Britain doesn't get tough on migrants

The Mayor of Calais has labelled British calls for French border police to be tougher on illegal migration as 'pure hypocrisy' and pushed to scrap a deal between the two countries aimed at cracking down on Channel crossings. 

Natacha Bouchart asked why France should shell out millions of euros to prevent the crossings of small boats over the Channel only for migrants to be allowed to work illegally with little chance of being deported when they land on British shores. 

'When the migrants arrive in Britain they work easily without documents. The British government must stop being in denial.

'In reality, they accept migrants passing through Calais so they have to change the system. The UK should be stopping people, not us.

'We think the French government and Europe aren't being tough enough on this toward the British government,' she told BBC Radio 4. 

Bouchart's latest comments come weeks after she called for a 'showdown' between Britain and France to decide a new migration policy, while Didier Leschi, France's Director General of the Office for Immigration, declared that migrants see Britain as an 'El Dorado' - a mythical country of riches.

'The issue for England is to have an internal system that appears to be an El Dorado - and probably wrongly so - since it's a country where you can work very easily without having a residence permit,' he said in September. 

Official figures show that more than 800 migrants crossed the English Channel last week alone as Sir Keir Starmer declared his government will do 'everything we can' to stem the flow of migrants into the UK.

Speaking to reporters on the way to the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro earlier this week, Sir Keir said: 'I don't think this is an area where we should just do one thing. We have got to do everything that we can.

'I am absolutely clear in my mind that taking down the gangs is the single most effective way of stopping the boats going across the Channel.

'People are making a huge amount of money for the journeys people are making across obviously several countries to the north coast of France.

'Intercepting and taking those gangs down is hugely important and it will be one of the biggest disincentives if we can break the gangs that are running these.'

Earlier this month the Prime Minister said people smugglers must be treated like 'terrorists' as part of efforts to crack down on Channel crossings. 

Meanwhile, France and Germany last month called on the UK to enter into talks for a Europe-wide deal on migration and asylum, hoping that discussions with a Labour government under Sir Keir Starmer may be more 'constructive'.

German interior minister Nancy Faeser and former French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Brexit had gravely affected 'the coherence of migration policies' and said the European Commission should 'rapidly' present 'a draft negotiating mandate' for talks with the UK on asylum and migration.

Migration is a hot button topic in the EU with many member states noting a considerable rise in support for hard-right parties, largely put down to lax migration laws that have seen millions of migrants flow into Western Europe. 

France on November 1 reinforced its borders with six of its neighbouring Schengen members - namely Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland - with increased checks.

The controls were applied to travellers entering France via land, sea and air routes from all six nations and will last until April 1, 2025 - but authorities have said they could be extended further.

A French government statement declared the checks were introduced due to 'serious threats to public policy, public order, and internal security posed by high-level terrorist activities... criminal networks facilitating irregular migration and smuggling, and migration flows that risk infiltration by radicalised individuals'.

It is the first time France has introduced such controls since the Covid-19 pandemic and could see migrants and unauthorised travellers turned back at the border and those suspected of criminal activity detained. 

The UK saw the biggest rise in legal immigration of any major country last year, according to a report.

The OECD put Britain at the top of the international table after long-term inflows increased by nearly 53 per cent to a record 750,000.

That was a larger increase than any other European state, and a more significant jump than the 13.4 per cent seen in the US.

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he is 'not relaxed' about net migration levels - which are forecast to fall, but remain at an historically-high 315,000 a year in the medium term.  

The latest report ignores Ukrainians seeking asylum amid the fallout from the Russian invasion. 

Overall OECD countries saw a total inflow of more than 6.5million people in 2023, up 10 per cent on the previous year and 28 per cent from 2019.

'Following an unprecedented increase in 2023, the United Kingdom rose to second place with a record 750,000 new migrants (250 000 more than in 2022, +52 per cent),' the report said.

'Germany, which had been the second OECD destination since 2012, fell to third place despite an increase of 4 per cent and nearly 700,000 new permanent-type entries. 

'Canada followed with 470 000 new permanent migrants (+7.8 per cent), and Spain recorded a 12 per cent increase to 360 000.'

The report pointed out that as well as the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Finland, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg and Switzerland all registered record immigration in 2023.

In September Sir Keir set out measures to cut over-reliance on migrant labour and boost training in the UK to fill vacancies.

He announced a push to link visa policies to skills needs, so that immigration is not used as an alternative to training or tackling workforce problems.

The Migration Advisory Committee has been asked to highlight key sectors where labour market failures have led to soaring overseas recruitment and provide an annual assessment to ministers.

The Government is also overhauling the rules around migrant sponsorship to ensure employers guilty of flouting employment laws are banned from hiring from abroad.

The PM said at the time: 'It is the policy of this Government to reduce both net migration and our economic dependency on it.

'I have never thought we should be relaxed about some sectors importing labour when there are millions of young people, ambitious and highly talented, who are desperate to work and contribute.'