The 27 people who died yesterday while attempting to cross the Channel to the UK from France included 17 men, seven women and two teenage boys and a girl, French prosecutors have said.
It comes as a picture of the flimsy boat used by the group has been seen by Sky News.
Following the deadliest day of the current migrant crisis, French Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin attacked the UK’s migration approach, saying that Britain had handled the crisis badly.
He also said other countries such as Belgium and Germany could do more to help France tackle illegal migrants and human trafficking issues.
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2:51
Pregnant woman among the dead
French President Emmanuel Macron called for “stronger” European co-operation to deal with the crisis and said French security forces are mobilised “day and night” to try and prevent people from crossing the Channel, but added that by the time migrants are on the coastline it is “already too late”.
In an interview with French radio station RTL, Mr Darmanin said migrants are “often attracted” to the UK’s job market and described the sinking of a migrant boat as an “absolute tragedy” – blaming human trafficking gangs who promise people the “El Dorado of England” for large sums of money.
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He did not have further information about the circumstances of the boat’s capsizing, or the victims’ nationalities, but said the two survivors were Somali and Iraqi and had been treated for severe hypothermia.
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0:37
Migrants promised ‘El Dorado’ in England
Mr Darmanin also said a fifth suspected people trafficker was arrested overnight and the boat used to cross the Channel was purchased in Germany and had a German vehicle registration.
“Those responsible for the tragedy which took place yesterday in the Channel are the smugglers, who for a few thousand euros promise Eldorado in England. The smugglers are criminals, this tragedy reminds us, painfully,” he said.
“It’s an international problem… We tell our Belgian, German and British friends they should help us fight traffickers that work at an international level,” Mr Darmanin added.
Five women, including one who was pregnant, and a girl were among the victims after their boat capsized in the water on Wednesday, with fishermen reporting more than a dozen bodies motionless in the sea.
Two people were rescued and four suspected people-smugglers arrested shortly afterwards.
The boat which sank was very flimsy, with Mr Darmanin likening it to “a pool you blow up in your garden”.
An image of the boat given to Sky News was taken by a lifeboat captain.
Around 60 migrants – some of them in life jackets – were transferred on to buses at Calais’ main train station on Thursday morning.
“Have these deaths changed your mind about getting to Britain?” Sky’s Europe correspondent Adam Parsons asked one man as he passed. “No, no,” he replied.
Parsons said: “Even in the wake of that appalling tragedy yesterday there is still an appetite for people to try to get from here in mainland France, over to the shores of the UK… and when you ask them why, they tell you that if they go through the official lines they don’t have any confidence that they will ever get the opportunity to reach the UK. They think they have no choice but to use people smugglers.”
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French forces ‘are mobilised day and night’
Most of those attempting to cross the Channel on small boats have been helped by organised networks of people smugglers.
Sky News spoke to one in northern Iraq who said he has packed flimsy boats with dozens of people trying to reach Britain – aware that some of them won’t survive the journey.
Franck Dhersin, the vice president of transport for the northern Hauts-de-France region, told French TV station BFMTV that heads of human trafficking networks who live comfortable lives in the UK must be arrested.
“In France what do we do? We arrest the smugglers…To fight them, there’s only one way – we need to stop the organisations, you need to arrest the mafia chiefs,” he said.
“And the mafia chiefs live in London… They live in London peacefully, in beautiful villas, they earn hundreds of millions of euros every year, and they reinvest that money in the City. And so it’s very easy for the tax authorities to find them.”
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2:09
Migrant crossings – what does the data show?
An image of two-year-old Alan Kurdi, face down on the shoreline and alone, who died in the Mediterranean while fleeing war in Syria in 2015, shocked the world and raised awareness of the plight of desperate individuals and families fleeing conflict and poverty.
But in the six years since his death, the route to mainland Europe and the UK is as dangerous as it was then.
Asked if the latest tragedy could be a turning point, Steve Valdez-Symonds of Amnesty UK, told Sky News he had “little confidence” it would be.
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‘It’s going to get significantly worse’
He pointed to the deaths of 39 migrants, aged between 15 and 44, whose bodies were discovered in a lorry container in Essex in 2019 and said it is not the journey in itself that is the issue – but the needs of the people on it.
Policing illegal routes into the UK is not sufficient on its own to stop people smuggling, he said. “Smugglers will continue to find new routes.”
He added that this approach often “pushes people to do more and more dangerous things to find the safety they need”.
French politician Bruno Bonnell said there are many reasons people are attracted to the UK.
“First the language, a lot of people have a basic understanding of English and they find it more comfortable finding a job there,” he told Sky News.
“Plus they have heard from sources that the conditions are better,” added the La Republique En Marche MP for Rhone.
Those who claim asylum in the UK are not normally allowed to work whilst their claim is being considered. They are instead provided with accommodation and support to meet their essential living needs.
The Home Office may grant permission to work to asylum seekers whose claim has been outstanding for more than 12 months through no fault of their own. Under this policy, those who are allowed to work are restricted to jobs on the shortage occupation list published by the department – which includes health services and the fields of science and engineering.
Image: 27 people died crossing the Channel on Wednesday
The Dover Strait is the world’s busiest shipping lane and more than 25,700 people have completed the dangerous journey to the UK this year.
That’s three times the total for 2020, according to data compiled by PA news agency.
The numbers have prompted some critics to blame Brexit while those in support of leaving the EU have questioned whether the UK has taken back its borders.
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“This is about addressing long-term pull factors, smashing the criminal gangs that treat human beings as cargo and tackling supply chains,” she said.
More than 20,000 migrants have been stopped this year, 17 organised criminal groups dismantled and around 400 arrests and 65 convictions secured.
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Priti Patel talks in the House of Commons after tragedy in the Channel.
“It does need a Herculean effort and it will be impossible without close co-operation between all international partners and agencies,” she said.
She said it was a “complete myth and fallacy” to suggest the UK should not look at all options, including stopping boats entering territorial waters.
“We are not working to end these crossings because we don’t care or are heartless,” she said, adding that the UK has a “clear, generous and a humane approach” to dealing with the issue.
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8:10
How does the UK handle immigration?
In August, she promised to make the route across the Channel “unviable”, but the number of people crossing in small boats has reached record highs.
The issue has become an increasingly tense subject for the UK and France, and each side has been blaming the other.
The government has accused the French of not stepping up patrols enough, despite giving them millions in extra funding to deal with the problem.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke to Mr Macron last night and Downing Street said they had agreed to “keep all options on the table”.
Mr Johnson offered to host and to help with joint patrols, while Mr Macron has called for an emergency meeting of European ministers and an “immediate strengthening” of Frontex, the EU’s border agency.
Emmanuel Macron addressing parliament in the Palace of Westminster’s Royal Gallery was a highly anticipated moment in the long history of our two nations.
That story – the conflict and a historic Anglo-French agreement that ended centuries of feuding, the Entente Cordiale – adorn the walls of this great hall.
Looming over the hundreds of MPs and peers who had gathered in the heat to hear the French president speak, hang two monumental paintings depicting British victories in the Napoleonic wars, while the glass stand in the room commemorates the 408 Lords who lost their lives fighting for Europe in two world wars.
The French president came to parliament as the first European leader to be honoured with a state visit since Brexit.
It was the first address of a French president to parliament since 2008, and Mr Macron used it to mark what he called a new era in Anglo-Franco relations.
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7:22
Sky News’ political correspondent Tamara Cohen was watching Emmanuel Macron’s speech. She highlights the president saying he wants to see tangible results on migration.
Peers and MPs cheered with delight when he confirmed France would loan the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK in the run-up to the anniversary of William the Conqueror’s birthday.
“I have to say, it took properly more years to deliver that project than all the Brexit texts,” he joked as former prime minister Theresa May watched on from the front row
From Brexit to migration, European security, to a two-state solution and the recognition of Palestine, Mr Macron did not shy away from thorny issues, as he turned the page on Brexit tensions woven through Anglo-French relations in recent years, in what one peer described to me as a “very political speech rather than just the usual warm words”.
Image: Emmanuel Macron addresses parliament
He also used this address to praise Sir Keir Starmer, sitting in the audience, for his leadership on security and Ukraine, and his commitment to the international order and alliances forged from the ashes of the Second World War. For that, he received a loud ovation from the gathered parliamentarians.
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3:28
Macron’s first-ever state visit: personal or political?
The test now for Sir Keir is whether he can turn his deft diplomatic work in recent months with Mr Macron into concrete action to give him a much-needed win on the domestic front, particularly after his torrid week on welfare.
The government hopes that France’s aim for “cooperation and tangible results” at the upcoming political summit as part of this state visit, will give Starmer a much-needed boost.
Under this plan, those crossing the Channel illegally will be sent back to France in exchange for Britain taking in an asylum seeker with a family connection in the UK.
But as I understand it, the deal is still in the balance, with some EU countries unhappy about France and the UK agreeing on a bilateral deal.
Emmanuel Macron has said the UK and France have a “shared responsibility” to tackle the “burden” of illegal migration, as he urged co-operation between London and Paris ahead of a crunch summit later this week.
Addressing parliament in the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday, the French president said the UK-France summit would bring “cooperation and tangible results” regarding the small boats crisis in the Channel.
Mr Macron – who is the first European leader to make a state visit to the UK since Brexit – told the audience that while migrants’ “hope for a better life elsewhere is legitimate”, “we cannot allow our countries’ rules for taking in people to be flouted and criminal networks to cynically exploit the hopes of so many individuals with so little respect for human life”.
“France and the UK have a shared responsibility to address irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness,” he added.
Looking ahead to the UK-France summit on Thursday, he promised the “best ever co-operation” between France and the UK “to fix today what is a burden for our two countries”.
Sir Keir Starmer will hope to reach a deal with his French counterpart on a “one in, one out” migrant returns deal at the key summit on Thursday.
King Charles also addressed the France-UK summit at the state banquet in Windsor Castle on Tuesday evening, saying it would “deepen our alliance and broaden our partnerships still further”.
Image: King Charles speaking at state banquet welcoming Macron.
Sitting next to President Macron, the monarch said: “Our armed forces will cooperate even more closely across the world, including to support Ukraine as we join together in leading a coalition of the willing in defence of liberty and freedom from oppression. In other words, in defence of our shared values.”
In April, British officials confirmed a pilot scheme was being considered to deport migrants who cross the English Channel in exchange for the UK accepting asylum seekers in France with legitimate claims.
The two countries have engaged in talks about a one-for-one swap, enabling undocumented asylum seekers who have reached the UK by small boat to be returned to France.
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Britain would then receive migrants from France who would have a right to be in the UK, like those who already have family settled here.
The small boats crisis is a pressing issue for the prime minister, given that more than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel to the UK in the first six months of this year – a rise of almost 50% on the number crossing in 2024.
Image: President Macron greets Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle at his address to parliament in Westminster.
Elsewhere in his speech, the French president addressed Brexit, and said the UK could not “stay on the sidelines” despite its departure from the European Union.
He said European countries had to break away from economic dependence on the US and China.
“Our two countries are among the oldest sovereign nations in Europe, and sovereignty means a lot to both of us, and everything I referred to was about sovereignty, deciding for ourselves, choosing our technologies, our economy, deciding our diplomacy, and deciding the content we want to share and the ideas we want to share, and the controversies we want to share.
“Even though it is not part of the European Union, the United Kingdom cannot stay on the sidelines because defence and security, competitiveness, democracy – the very core of our identity – are connected across Europe as a continent.”
A UN committee on disability rights has criticised the UK government’s welfare reforms, saying they will “increase poverty rates”.Â
In an intervention likely to be seized on by MPs seeking to further water down the measures, the committee asks ministers for answers on 10 issues surrounding the benefit changes – and says the reforms risk “regression” for disabled people.
The committee, which reports to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, asks about British politicians suggesting people are defrauding the benefits system.
Image: Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the launch of the 10-year health plan in east London. Pic: PA
One point on which it wants clarification is: “Public statements by politicians and authorities portraying persons with disabilities as making profit of social benefits, making false statements to get social and disability benefits or being a burden to society.”
Other questions are on the impact the measures will have on “young persons, new claimants of disability benefits, women with disabilities, persons with disabilities with high level supports” and others.
They ask ministers about what measures they have taken to address “the foreseeable risk of increasing poverty rates amongst persons with disabilities if cuts are approved” and claim the welfare bill has had “limited scrutiny”.
The letter claims that the committee has “received credible information” that the Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill “will deepen the signs of regression” that the committee warned about in a report last year on the cost of living crisis and its impact on disabled people.
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An intervention by the UN will be an embarrassment to the government, which has promised its welfare reforms will help disabled people into work.
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4:31
Welfare bill blows ‘black hole’ in chancellor’s accounts
Liz Kendall, the welfare secretary, was criticised heavily earlier in the year for saying some people on benefits were “taking the mickey”.
After a chaotic first vote in Parliament on 1 July, in which MPs succeeded in watering down the reforms significantly, the government now says its reforms will lift 50,000 people out of poverty. The bill was backed by 335 MPs, with 260 against – a majority of 75.
The first version of the reforms would have – the government’s assessment said – pushed 250,000 people into poverty.
Charities are urging MPs to continue to push for further changes – including on cuts to Universal Credit sickness payments.
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1:08
Labour welfare rebel wants ‘respect’
A different UN committee heavily criticised benefit changes made by the Conservatives in 2016 and called on the UK to take “corrective measures” when Labour came into office.
The UN’s committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) concluded that “welfare reform” measures introduced by Conservative-led governments in 2012 and 2016 had disproportionately affected disabled people, low-income families, and workers in “precarious employment”.
The committee said this had led to “severe economic hardship, increased reliance on food banks, homelessness, negative impacts on mental health, and the stigmatisation of benefit claimants”.
The Department for Work and Pensions has been contacted for comment.
The Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Billreturns to the Commons on Wednesday for its remaining stages.
Mikey Erhardt, policy lead at Disability Rights UK, said: “The fact that the UN has yet again felt it needs to write to the UK government about our cruel and punitive social security system should be a national shame.
“We hope this letter is a wake-up call for MPs. Despite all the chaos of the last-minute climbdowns and concessions, the Universal Credit bill remains broken.
“There are still billions of cuts on the table, and we urge MPs to approach tomorrow’s proceedings with caution as their vote will have serious implications for disabled people across the country.
“If disabled people feel unable to trust the government’s promises on co-production and the UN needed to raise concerns over the bill’s impact, how can MPs vote this bill through?”