It’s not just Britons who think Labour will have a lax attitude towards the nation’s borders—perhaps even more so than the Conservatives. Migrants in France also expect that the likely incoming government under Sir Keir Starmer will make it even easier for Channel crossers to make the illegal (and hideously dangerous) journey to the UK—and, more importantly, to stay there.
The Daily Telegraph has been in contact with a handful of migrants waiting to travel in dinghies from France to England who said:
- “When I heard that this man [prime minister Rishi Sunak] was going to fall, and not going to win this election, I was like, you know, this is going to be amazing, this is going to be incredible. Most of us are still here due to the fear we have about [being deported to] Rwanda. We are praying for the new government to come.” (A 24-year-old student from Sudan.)
- “I will not go until the day they make the right decision to destroy [the] Rwanda [plan]. I am looking forward to a new government. If things change, I will go.” (An elderly Iraqi woman.)
- “It’s better to wait for two weeks [until after the general election], I would like to wait for two weeks. We need to wait until the new government has arrived.” (A 43-year-old Peshmerga fighter from Iraq.)
The fears that these and other migrants hold about the Conservative’s Rwanda plan—to deter Channel crossings by sending illegal arrivals to the African nation for processing—are misplaced since it has long been clear that deportations are not going to take place. But they do speak to the fact that Labour—which has committed to destroying the ‘plan’ on “day one” in office—gives off the impression that it will do even less to protect Britain’s borders.
Responding to the excitement of migrants waiting in France, Robert Bates, who is research director at the Centre for Migration Control think tank, told The European Conservative:
The Labour Party is full of bleeding heart ideologues who hate the idea of Britain’s borders. It’s not just the backbenches that are full of these extremists views. The shadow cabinet is equally infected with a deep disdain for any semblance of immigration control.
Sunak was quick to point to this story, telling voters that it shows they must “vote Conservative on 4th July.” But on the same day that he made this plea, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, onboard a trawler in the Channel, drew attention to a small boat en route to England which took the total number of migrants who have arrived since Sunak became PM to beyond 50,000.
Farage has described the issue as a “National Security Emergency” and has argued that neither Labour nor the Conservatives will do anything to stop it.
Bates agreed that “migrants in northern France looking to cross the Channel have had it far too easy under this Conservative government, so it is hard to fathom what a Labour government could actually do to make things even more favourable.”
One thing is for sure: neither of the main parties will be able to stop the boats nor, truthfully, do either of them actually care about doing so. The voters are left with a grim choice at this election.