Emily Sheffield The only way to stem the tragic tide... co-operation and not confrontation

AS you read this more Iraqis, Syrians, Eritreans, Afghans, Sudanese and Somalians will be climbing into dinghies criminally ill-equipped to cross the Channel, hoping the wake of a passing ship will not send their children to a terrifying death. For some their last moments will be watching helplessly as the person they love thrashes helplessly in the foam. It’s unimaginable.

The common thread between them are the fragile states they hail from — countries blighted by civil war, poverty and corruption, no basic security and inadequate governments. Fragile states drive mass migration and in doing so give rise to trafficking and terrorism. Half of the world’s poor will live in failing states by 2030.

We accuse the French of inaction and blame Brexit, and the murderous criminal smugglers. But the root cause is countries in severe distress and sadly, too frequently, we have a had a hand in the chaos. Afghanistan, for instance. Their teens come here aged 15 so they don’t have to join the Taliban. The UK is not just a destination because of our jobs market but because Afghans will find relatives and possess a smattering of English. The same with Syrians.

Vast amounts of effort are spent by developed countries trying to help failed states. Too often we increase problems: set unrealistic priorities, add crippling interest on loans. Climate goals or rushed elections are prioritised over first steps of increasing jobs and security. Local governments are not trusted and worked around, not with. Why not let them set their own goals and instead insist on stricter accountability with aid? To fundamentally improve our global approach is, however, years of focused work.

Meanwhile, our Prime Minister is reaping the problems from his bombastic over-promising. He rode the Farage rhetoric of invading migrant hordes. “We’ll take back control” he boasted, but we cannot police miles of coastline or string it with barbed wire nor stop the flow of desperate people across this planet. Greece, Spain, Italy, France and Germany all take more asylum seekers than us. As David Blunkett pointed out, immigration is politically poisonous here and little to do with reality.

No wonder Boris put Priti Patel in charge. It is an intractable problem. A growing trend that many of us perceive— send in a woman to do an impossible job, then let her take the blame. Stephen Barclay has now been dispatched to save the day. When we last saw each other at the Tory conference, he was already trying to unravel our post-Brexit and pandemic labour crisis. Now he’s got the migrant brief.

Months of cross-border sniping fuelled by never-ending preposterous post-Brexit negotiations have reached fever pitch. President Macron, just like Boris, is political point-scoring for his own gain — his election is six months away. “Only after that will there be a better chance of collaboration,” one exasperated diplomat advised me from France. Meanwhile, our PM will continue to be assailed by the Red Wall MPs. It is people in boats, not sleaze, they hear about on doorsteps. Boris published a letter to the French on Twitter ensuring it reached UK press deadlines. Focusing on PR not cooperation immediately backfired when the French scornfully retaliated by banned Priti Patel from today’s crisis meetings for making his letter ‘public’. Now more people will die.

We cannot return the mounting numbers of asylum seekers once they reach these shores because although arrangements with the EU had their weaknesses, under the Dublin Convention you could at least in theory return arrivals to the safe country they’d arrived from — in this case France. The political Right says turn back the boats. The Left says let people apply for asylum from the camps in France. The former is dangerous. The latter likely to make the problem worse. The real answer is partnership with France and focused international aid, which this government cut. But Brexit screwed up the first and Boris cut the second.

Immediate action can briefly stem the tide. Tackle them on the French beaches. Aerial surveillance with drones can quickly spot movement. You won’t stop everyone. But close one loophole and they will find another. And so, the tragedy goes on. As Priti Patel admits, “there is no quick fix”.

It is migrants in boats that Red Wall MPs hear about on the doorsteps now, and not sleaze