Stop the boats? Outrage as France and UK try a new deal on asylum seekers

Sydney Morning Herald

2 days ago

The agreement means the UK will accept those who can show they have a case for asylum in the UK – for example, if they have family there.
For each one accepted, the UK would send another one back to France from the cohort with no equivalent claim to settle in the UK.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, seen as the strongest opponent of Starmer with significant support in the polls, has attacked the deal as a 'humiliation' for Britain because it would not discourage boats.
Farage, a key advocate for the popular vote to take the UK out of the European Union, was also infuriated by Macron's claim in London that the migrant flows were bigger because of Brexit.
'Since Brexit the UK has no migratory agreement with the EU,' Macron said.
This gave migrants an incentive to cross the channel, he said, and meant the British public now experienced the 'precise opposite' of what they were promised under Brexit.
EU members including Italy and Greece have warned against the French deal with the UK because it involves sending asylum seekers back to an EU country, raising a potential block on the trial.
French political figures attacked the deal on the grounds it would send too many back to their country, with the Mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, saying France had 'handed everything' to the British.
In the UK, however, Conservative MP and shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the outcome would have 'no deterrent effect' because too few would be sent back to France.
France and the UK have agreed on ways to respond to asylum seeker boats, leading to outrage from Farage when he witnessed a 'handover' in the channel to transfer people in lifejackets to a British vessel.
Unlike the Australian policy on the country's western and northern approaches, there is no UK or French policy to turn boats around or intercept the boats and take the asylum seekers to third countries.
In a provocative move last weekend, French police waded into the water on a beach south of Calais and used a knife to slash the inflatable hull. A video of the incident, taken by the BBC, showed more than a dozen asylum seekers getting out of the boat and heading back to the beach.
The UK Refugee Council called for better treatment of those fleeing persecution but offered conditional support for the deal struck in London.
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'Men, women and children fleeing oppressive regimes like the Taliban and brutal civil wars such as in Sudan should not need to risk their lives on boats to reach safety in Britain,' the council said.
'The groundbreaking one-for-one deal with France is an important first step, but it's vital that it is implemented in a way that treats all those seeking asylum fairly and with respect and dignity. For now, it's too soon to determine what the impact will be.'
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said the agreement could offer protection to asylum seekers on both sides of the English Channel if it was done in the right way, but it said that would depend on the operational details.
The UNHCR warned that 86 people died last year trying to reach the UK on the small boats.
'Men, women and children continue to risk their lives at the hands of smugglers and traffickers,' it said.
'As of 6 July this year, around 21,117 people have already made the crossing and tragically, at least 14 people have lost their lives at sea.'