UK is ‘El Dorado’ for migrants who get hotels and handouts, French MP slams as 1,100 cross Channel in just 1 day
BENEFITS for illegal migrants were slammed again today after a leading French MP said Britain was like “El Dorado” for Channel crossers.
Anger over relentless small boat arrivals has intensified after almost 1,200 made the journey in a single day on Saturday.
The mega rate of dinghies – up 40 per cent on last year – has also raised criticism of French cops’ failure to intercept them despite being given £480million of UK taxpayer cash.
But today a senior member of Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party blamed the British government for making life “so attractive” for potential migrants.
Channel arrivals who claim asylum are given accommodation and food while their bids are being processed, with those unable to be deported given support indefinitely.
Asked on the BBC if Britain was like “El Dorado” – the mythical city of gold – Élénore Caroit told the BBC: “It is. It’s a complex situation, people want simple solutions, but you have to go to Calais and see what it looks like, and how many boats you have and how many people are waiting to go to the UK.
“So, of course, there is a part that can be improved in France, and we’re working towards that. But I also think the UK needs to take responsibility, because it is so attractive to these migrant routes as of today, and we actually need to work together instead of blaming each other.”
Sir Keir Starmer today insisted the government had ramped up the number of deportations and illegal working raids.
He said: “You have every right to be angry about small boat crossings. I’m angry too.
“We are ramping up our efforts to smash the people smuggling gangs at source.”
It promoted a furious response from MP Rupert Lowe, who hit back: “Don’t put them up in hotels. Don’t give them benefits. Don’t let them stay – under any circumstances.”
Police stood and watched as the gangs took advantage of calm seas on Saturday to launch 18 boats for the use of mostly young men.
A total of 1,194 people made the crossing successfully, the highest number in a day since 2022.
Officials said only 184 were stopped — fewer than 15 per cent.
Photos of smiling migrants in the boats crossing the Channel emerged later on social media.
It comes despite a deal agreed in 2023 to pay the French £480million to stop the crossings.
Defence Secretary John Healey described the weekend scenes from the French beaches as “shocking”.
He said: “Truth is, Britain’s lost control of its borders over the last five years.”
He said the smugglers were dodging waiting cops by “launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi”.
Mr Healey said it was a “really big problem” that, under French law, the police were not allowed to intervene once boats were in shallow waters.
Watershed Day - The Sun Says
THE arrival of 1,194 illegal migrants across the Channel on Saturday is a total humiliation for the politicians who have failed to keep us safe.
It made a mockery of Keir Starmer’s pledge last summer to “smash the gangs” — and his much-trumpeted new £150million Border Security Command was quickly overwhelmed.
And in an ironic reversal of our nation’s Dunkirk spirit, local fishing boats were asked to help out.
Meanwhile, the French cops — handed £480million by Britain — again stood watching uselessly as boatloads of mainly young men set sail unimpeded.
The Government says things will change now it has persuaded France to implement new rules later this year to allow police to go out into the sea.
Some hope, when French naval vessels have spent years merely escorting dinghies into British waters.
The numbers of migrants stopped by France have fallen as our cheque paid to them has got bigger.
The French blame us for offering benefits and free hotels and say the UK is an El Dorado paradise for illegals.
It’s hard to argue.
Nothing will substantially shift the dial until a proper deterrent is found.
Rwanda might have been it. The PM scrapped it.
This should be a watershed moment.
Depressingly, the problem this summer is only likely to get worse.