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ENGLAND IS WHERE WE ALL WANT TO END UP...

Immigrants hanging around an old building in Calais

Saturday January 30,2010

By Chris Riches

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(20)

FRENCH authorities were last night accused of shamelessly washing their hands of the battle to prevent illegal immigration to Britain.

The row flared as a new base camp was opened yesterday in Calais to help migrants illegally enter Britain.

Ironically, it is in the town’s Place d’Angleterre – England Square.

Last night Tories slammed the camp and the massive influx into Britain as “an example of Gordon Brown’s lax immigration policy.”

Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said: “Any attempt to rebuild a camp at Calais would be a disaster for Britain. We need proper co-operation from the French in fighting people smuggling.”

And Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, West Yorks, said: “One of the main reasons they come is because they know once inside Britain their chances of being kicked out are nil.”

Local charities in the ferry-port town have built the 2,000 sq ft shelter to help the 1,000 UK-bound immigrants sleeping rough on Calais streets.

Yesterday delighted migrants said that they hoped to use the new centre as a springboard to the UK.

Afghani ex-student Said, 21, said: “I should have somewhere to stay, especially when temperatures are so low.

“Word has spread quickly about this centre. Our only ambition is to get to England where we will claim asylum.”

The centre is already being dubbed Sangatte II after the former Red Cross centre which attracted thousands of illegal foreigners before being razed in 2002.

The facility will provide food, shelter and asylum-claim advice for the estimated 50 migrants a day boarding ferries and trains to England, where most then disappear into the black economy.

Now it is feared it will attract even more migrants across Europe – just months after France’s Immigration Minister Eric Besson claimed that our shared borders are “watertight”.

Yesterday news of the camp not only angered Calais locals – who fear it will be like a beacon to thousands more immigrants – but also Britons campaigning for a tougher immigration policy.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrant Watch UK, told the Daily Express: “This is getting increasingly ridiculous. France is a safe country for refugees. If they are genuine, it is for the French to give them refuge. If they are bogus, it is for the French to return them to their home countries.

“Instead, they are waving them on to Britain, which they clearly regard as a much softer touch than France.”

Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Our government is always bragging about having a seat at the top table in Europe, and so they should speak to the French government and stop the establishment of this camp which will only bring great expense and heartache to British taxpayers.”

A spokesman for the SOS refugee and homeless charity said: “We don’t envisage any legal problems.

“This is a humanitarian gesture – we’re putting the shelter at the disposal of the migrants.”

He added: “There are showers, bathrooms and toilets. It will be heated and there will be blankets and beds.” The fact that the new hangar is on Place d’Angleterre has not been lost on the charity workers.

“It’s very appropriate,” said one. “England is where almost everyone who stays here will want to end up. We’ll be able to look after hundreds at a time.”

But furious Calais Mayor Natacha Bouchart vowed to tear it down, saying: “It’s scandalous. I’ll do everything possible to stop them using it.

“I don’t want another Sangatte. The people responsible for this are walking over ordinary Calasiens.”

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

FRANCE SHOULD KEEP THEM

31.01.10, 4:41pm

France if four times the size of England (I mean England not Britain) but England and France have about the same sized populations.

France should keep these illegal immigrants and England should leave both the EU and the UK because both unions are hellbent on destroying England.

Then we English should have strict border controls and repatriate illegal immigrants. All amnesties should be reviewed and revoked where the immigrant concerned has broken the law.

• Posted by: Stephen_Gash • Report Comment

SIMPLE SOLUTIONS

31.01.10, 2:27pm

If any illegal,or asilum seekers arive in this country by boat,in the back of lorries or by any other means ,Theferry owners should be made to pay for the cost of their stay in this country and face a heavy fine ,,Also their right to operate from any UK port should terminated,,Its about time we stoped pussyfooting about ,,,,,,

• Posted by: wigwam • Report Comment

BRITAIN IS NO PLACE FOR THE WHITE, WORKING-CLASS MALE.

30.01.10, 10:23pm

Britain is no place for the white, working-class male. As Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has observed: "Britain is by far the best place to live in Europe if you are not white." The problem is that if you are white – and working-class and male – Britain is not necessarily such a pleasant land.

Whereas ethnic minorities, especially those who have arrived relatively recently tend to have support for welfare, homes, and the best education for their children. These are multicultural ethnic supporters, that Gordon Brown is desperate to retain.

Mr Denham, said that "being black or Asian no longer means being automatically disadvantaged". He effectively declared the war on racism over, and claimed it was Labour that won it.

The decline in heavy industrial jobs that once offered a livelihood to British citizens, the less well-off and poorly educated, with no qualifications has compounded their disadvantages. These are the traditional supporters of Labour's heartland, the "core vote" who feel badly let down by the Government and are turning to the BNP. Enabling them to gain an electoral foothold in our country. For all Mr Denham's self-congratulation, that is the true legacy of Labour's years in power.

• Posted by: DELTA42 • Report Comment

ACTIONS AND WORDS

30.01.10, 5:01pm

Barbara3, It's not enough just to say it, we've got to do it. The French, same as almost all other countries, regard us a a soft touch - and they are right!
Talking nicely will not do. It didn't with Hitler, and it won't now.
The treats no longer have any effect, because our excuse for a government does not carry them out. We need more action and less words.

• Posted by: Sick_as_a_pig • Report Comment

TELL IT TO EM STRAIGHT, YOU'LL BE SENT BACK NO MESSING AND NO ASYLYM

30.01.10, 4:51pm

We need to go to France and tell em straight, there's no asylum, no jobs, no housing, and no money and they will be sent back whence they came. What we need to do here is get rid of inept MP's who waffle and do nothing, we do have an election coming up I suggest we DUMP THE LOT has they've no bottle, to do anything. Stop the beneftis as well, and tell them that too, we've got no more money the rest of the world has had it off Mr Brown. These people need to have a reality check making them understand we will no longer accept them under no circumstances, has for the EU, well they are already there so they can have them, we are full, if they don't like it tough! Better still remember where you put your vote, and put those in parliament who will deal with these layabouts, and scroungers, we've enough of them already. OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW, DUMP THE LOT INCLUDING IMMIGRANTS WE DON'T WANT HAVE NO ROOM FOR, AND MAKE SURE THEY HEAR CLEARLY WHAT WE SAY.

• Posted by: Barbara3 • Report Comment

WHAT CAN WE DO

30.01.10, 3:36pm

We can stop this and reverse the trend, UKIP are the only party to commit to making any immigrant who is legal work for 10 years paying his full contributions to our welfare system before he or she can benefit, that goes also for NHS cover. Illegals will be sorted at the borders and returned to France or where ever they came from, as they intend to take us out of Europe their stupid laws will not hinder us in these actions, UKIP are not BNP or in any way connected with them, have not the same racial intolerance. Go on line read their web
site, it's not too late to save our Great Country.

• Posted by: dunnit • Report Comment