Poole MP calls for crackdown on Channel small boat crossings

The Conservative backbench MP told the House of Commons a crackdown was needed on the issue.

He said he expected new minister Robert Jenrick MP to be “tough and compassionate" on immigration.

Addressing Mr Jenrick in parliament on Thursday, October 27, Sir Robert said: “Most of my constituents or many of them go to France on holiday because it is safe and a nice place to go and they are perplexed with these people coming in because they are creating profits for criminal gangs.

“I think we do need to crack down on this particular area.

"The minister mentioned he was going down to Kent and I welcome that. Is he going to see his French counterpart soon for further discussions about how we can stop this terrible?”

Mr Jenrick said: “My honourable friend raises the extremely important point which gets to the nub of the question that these individuals are leaving a safe country and they are leaving France of all safe countries, so we must do more to deter them from making the dangerous crossing.

“I will be going to France to meet my opposite number and to meet other elected officials, both in Pas-de-Calais and in the French government and I do think there is an opportunity afforded to us by the arrival of the new Prime Minister to improve relationships and see what further action we might be able to do together.”

On Wednesday, October 26, an independent inspector of borders told MPs the Home Office holding facility at Manston in Kent was "wretched".

Speaking in the Commons on Thursday, Christchurch MP Sir Christopher Chope asked: "What is the target date for ending this farce (small boat crossings) and will my honourable friend explain to us that in Manston the conditions although far from ideal are a heck of a sight better than the conditions in squatter camps in Calais or the conditions on those overcrowded, dangerous boats crossing the Channel, so some of the people at Manston should probably be counting their blessings."

Sir Christopher Chope

Mr Jenrick said: "Well, he is absolutely right that these individuals have chosen to make an extremely dangerous and perilous crossing.

"We have greeted them. We are ensuring they are treated humanely for a very short period of time whilst they make their initial asylum claim if that is what they intend to do and then are taken to other and better accommodation.

"We have given them the food, the medical care, the clothing that they need as befits a welcoming country but this is not the long-term solution to the problem.

"We do not want to be receiving tens of thousands of individuals in small boats across the Channel and that's why we are taking all the steps we can to deter people from making this dangerous crossing in the first place."