{"id":250439,"date":"2025-03-03T04:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T04:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/03\/mayor-calls-for-keir-starmer-to-visit-calais-migrant-camps\/"},"modified":"2025-03-03T04:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T04:29:13","slug":"mayor-calls-for-keir-starmer-to-visit-calais-migrant-camps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/03\/mayor-calls-for-keir-starmer-to-visit-calais-migrant-camps\/","title":{"rendered":"Mayor calls for Keir Starmer to visit Calais migrant camps"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mayor<\/div>


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Michael Keohan<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC Kent, political reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
Simon Jones<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC News, South East<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A mayor in Calais has called on Sir Keir Starmer to visit the region<\/figcaption><\/p>\n
\n

A mayor in Calais has called on Sir Keir Starmer to visit the region to better understand the impact of small boat crossings in northern France.<\/p>\n

In a message to the prime minister, the mayor of Ambleteuse, St\u00e9phane Pinto, said co-operation between the two countries was “a must”.<\/p>\n

Home Office Minister Dame Angela Eagle said the UK government had “ramped up” its work with French authorities, revealing French police had stopped 28,000 small boat crossings last year.<\/p>\n

Dame Angela declined to comment on whether the prime minister planned to accept the invitation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"A<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Last year was the deadliest for small boats crossing the English Channel, with an estimated 78 people having died attempting the journey.<\/p>\n

The latest Home Office data shows that 36,816 people were detected crossing the Channel in small boats in 2024 \u2013 up from 29,437 in 2023, but below a record 45,774 in 2022.<\/p>\n

Mr Pinto urged the prime minister to “come and look at our beaches”.<\/p>\n

“We must put in place measures to stop bodies on our beaches,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"Zinki<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Zinki has lived at the camp for two months while he attempts to cross the Channel<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

The BBC has seen a camp in Calais, located in a former wine warehouse with no working toilets or running water, which is home to several hundred migrants.<\/p>\n

Zinki, from Sudan, has lived at the camp for two months while he attempts to cross the Channel.<\/p>\n

“I’ve faced persecution at home. For us, England works. The language is easier, some people have relatives there,” he said.<\/p>\n

He also warned of the dangers of crossing the Channel, stating: “You see your brother die in the sea as you try to cross. Everyone has their own destiny.”<\/p>\n

In a nearby camp in Dunkirk, Akan, from Iran, said: “It is very dangerous. Our boat got a hole in it and we were in the water for 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

“We had to wait for the big French boat to save us. I thought we would die.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"MichaelMichael Keohan\/BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Last year was the deadliest for crossing of the English Channel<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

Calais MP Marc De Fleurian said he had ruled out joint patrols on French beaches, stating British police on French soil would make local authorities look “weak”.<\/p>\n

“I think British police would be perceived very badly by the French,” he said.<\/p>\n

Emily Featherstone, from charity Care4Calais that provide tents and clothing for migrants in northern France, said finding safer routes was essential.<\/p>\n

“What we offer in shoes, sleeping bags and activities isn’t that amazing that people would travel here just for that,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"Two<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Last year, at least 78 people died attempting the journey across the English Channel<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

The Home Office said it had launched new specialist police and enforcement plans, including state of the art surveillance technology to disrupt criminal smuggling gangs in northern France.<\/p>\n

New measures to tackle people-smuggling gangs have been agreed by the UK and France, with more than \u00a37m of existing funds redirected towards a “stronger” law enforcement response on migrant Channel crossings, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

When questioned about what deterrent the government had to stop crossings, Dame Angela said “one is they [migrants] may die.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Keohan BBC Kent, political reporter Simon Jones BBC News, South East A mayor in Calais has called on Sir Keir Starmer to visit the region A mayor in Calais has called on Sir Keir Starmer to visit the region to better understand the impact of small boat crossings in northern France. In a message […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[603],"tags":[86263,1187,18787,3959,8270,5295,3960,1690],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250441,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250439\/revisions\/250441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}