‘The UK cannot send me to Africa’: Migrants trying to cross Channel explain why they won’t be deterred by Rwanda bill
If you want to understand why people are still risking everything to cross the Channel, let me take you to a quiet street near Dunkirk, where chaos is in the air.
A group of around 40 or 50 people – migrants who have just failed in their latest attempt to cross the Channel – are being corralled down the road. They are tired and bruised. The police are around them, like teachers trying to take control of an unruly school trip.
Behind, police officers on foot, shouting instructions in French that almost nobody can understand. The group turns, as one, and heads down a side road that leads to a field.
“Non, non,” shouts the policeman, exasperated. His head rolls back. “NON,” he bellows, then runs after them.
These people are mostly strangers to each other, united by the single aim of reaching Britain. We had seen the group 12 hours earlier, crossing another field, clearly on their way to a nearby beach, but then they disappeared from our sight, heading off down an alleyway between houses.
Rishi Sunak has vowed to reduce small boat crossings in the Channel
Like so many people, they had attempted to make the crossing, and failed. This time, according to one of those we spoke to, the cause was the police, patrolling these beaches throughout the night.
As the group tried to take a boat to the shore, the police punctured it, rendering the vessel useless.
But that’s not all. They also claimed the police had used rubber bullets to disperse them.
Bich, a Vietnamese woman who we find sitting on the ground, tearfully exhausted, rolls up her trouser to expose a nasty, vivid bruise.
“We went towards the boat but the police shot at us. They destroyed the boat and it sank. And then they shot me.”
“Plastic pistols,” is how another man described the weapons, showing me a much bigger bruise on his thigh. A third has a circular bruise, with a dot in the middle, as if he has been hit by the top of a canister.
Some of the migrants claimed they were shot with ‘plastic pistols’
The group was a varied bunch. Very often, over the years of talking to migrant groups of northern France, they have been united by background – one boat is full of Iraqi Kurds, say, while another is packed with Afghans.
But here, we found an international group.
Yes, Kurds, Iraqis and Afghans, but also Syrians, Vietnamese, Sudanese and, hidden behind a cap and jumper pulled over his mouth and nose, a man who told me he was from Morocco.
Some have been determined to reach Britain ever since they left their home countries. Others are more pragmatic. One more told me he had wanted to stay in France but had just been told he was going to be deported.
Migrants seeking to cross the Channel exhausted after being stopped by police.
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“We have problems but we are being deported, so we want to go to Britain for a better life,” says one. “Deport, deport,” shouts another man.
So Britain may represent his last chance at asylum as a host of European nations start to increase the number of deportation orders they issue.
The European Union has just concluded a long-debated agreement on migration, intended to toughen both its borders and its resolve.
Sweden, France, Italy and plenty of others are using much tougher rhetoric about removing people from their territory who have been refused asylum. And the results are beginning to be seen.
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Germany, which opened its doors to more than a million people fleeing Syria, is among those increasing its number of deportations, with 20% more migrants sent away in the first two months of this year compared with the same period of 2023.
And then, of course, there is the UK’s Rwanda plan, designed to deter people from making these crossings, backed by the prime minister’s unequivocal promise to bring down the number of small boats crossing the Channel.
If they knew about the Rwanda plan, and certainly some did, then they shrugged it off as either ineffective, unjust or simply untrue.
“The UK cannot send me to Africa after what you have done to my country and my area,” said one Syrian man. He knew about the Rwanda policy and said it was “not true”.
“It is not safe in Rwanda so you cannot send people there,” insisted another person, perhaps unwittingly getting to the nub of so many parliamentary exchanges.
“There are people who are trying to escape from Rwanda because of what is happening there. So you cannot say it is safe.”
Dinghies seen onboard a Border Force vessel in Dover. File pic: Reuters
There is a great deal stacked up against these groups of migrants. The British government doesn’t want them to come, they claim the police in the Dunkirk area have attacked them, the crossing is dangerous and expensive and there is a growing tide of antipathy towards migrants across much of Europe.
Yet none of these people seem deterred, promising to persevere, resolutely sure that reaching British shores will be a panacea to their woes.
“We will be back tomorrow,” says a young man with a wispy beard and a wide smile. “We want to get to the UK.”
His friend next to him simply grinned at me. “UK is good,” he said, with a thumbs-up.
The group amble off, back towards their camp near Grande-Synthe, a town that has become a magnet for migrants. They are exhausted and, in some cases, battered. But they will try again – soon.
Sky News has approached French police for comment on the migrants’ claims.
UK
Hundreds of NHS quangos to be axed – as plans unveiled for health funding to be linked to patient feedback
NHS funding could be linked to patient feedback under new plans, with poorly performing services that “don’t listen” penalised with less money.
As part of the “10 Year Health Plan” to be unveiled next week, a new scheme will be trialled that will see patients asked to rate the service they received – and if they feel it should get a funding boost or not.
It will be introduced first for services that have a track record of very poor performance and where there is evidence of patients “not being listened to”, the government said.
This will create a “powerful incentive for services to listen to feedback and improve patients’ experience”, it added.
Sky News understands that it will not mean bonuses or pay increases for the best performing staff.
NHS payment mechanisms will also be reformed to reward services that keep patients out of hospital as part of a new ‘Year of Care Payments’ initiative and the government’s wider plan for change.
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Speaking to The Times, chief executive of the NHS Confederation Matthew Taylor expressed concerns about the trial.
He told the newspaper: “Patient experience is determined by far more than their individual interaction with the clinician and so, unless this is very carefully designed and evaluated, there is a risk that providers could be penalised for more systemic issues, such as constraints around staffing or estates, that are beyond their immediate control to fix.”
He said that NHS leaders would be keen to “understand more about the proposal”, because elements were “concerning”.
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “We will reward great patient care, so patient experience and clinical excellence are met with extra cash. These reforms are key to keeping people healthy and out of hospital, and to making the NHS sustainable for the long-term as part of the Plan for Change.”
In the raft of announcements in the 10 Year Health Plan, the government has said 201 bodies responsible for overseeing and running parts of the NHS in England – known as quangos – will be scrapped.
These include Healthwatch England, set up in 2012 to speak out on behalf of NHS and social care patients, the National Guardian’s Office, created in 2015 to support NHS whistleblowers, and the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB).
The head of the Royal College of Nursing described the move as “so unsafe for patients right now”.
Professor Nicola Ranger said: “Today, in hospitals across the NHS, we know one nurse can be left caring for 10, 15 or more patients at a time. It’s not safe. It’s not effective. And it’s not acceptable.
“For these proposed changes to be effective, government must take ownership of the real issue, the staffing crisis on our wards, and not just shuffle people into new roles. Protecting patients has to be the priority and not just a drive for efficiency.”
Elsewhere, the new head of NHS England Sir Jim Mackey said key parts of the NHS appear “built to keep the public away because it’s an inconvenience”.
“We’ve made it really hard, and we’ve probably all been on the end of it,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
“The ward clerk only works nine to five, or they’re busy doing other stuff; the GP practice scrambles every morning.”
A haul of cocaine worth nearly £100m has been seized at a UK port, authorities say.
The haul, weighing 2.4 tonnes, was found under containers on a ship arriving from Panama at London Gateway port in Thurrock, Essex.
It had been detected earlier this year after an intelligence-led operation but was intercepted as it arrived in the UK this week.
With the help of the port operator, 37 large containers were moved to uncover the drugs, worth an estimated £96m.
The haul is the sixth-largest cocaine seizure in UK history, according to Border Force.
Its maritime director Charlie Eastaugh said: “This seizure – one of the largest of its kind – is just one example of how dedicated Border Force maritime officers remain one step ahead of the criminal gangs who threaten our security.
“Our message to these criminals is clear – more than ever before, we are using intelligence and international law enforcement cooperation to disrupt and dismantle your operations.”
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Container ships are one of the main ways international gangs smuggle Class A drugs into the UK, Mr Eastaugh said.
Cocaine deaths in England and Wales increased by 31% between 2022 and 2023, according to the latest Home Office data.
Elsewhere this weekend, a separate haul of 170 kilos of ketamine, 4,000 MDMA pills, and 20 firearms were found on a lorry at Dover Port in Kent.
One of the 20 firearms found at Dover Port. Pic: NCA
Experts estimate the ketamine’s street value to be £4.5m, with the MDMA worth at least £40,000.
The driver of the lorry, a 34-year-old Tajikistan national, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of smuggling the items, the National Crime Agency said.
Sir Keir Starmer has said fixing the UK’s welfare system is a “moral imperative” after the government’s U-turn.
The prime minister faced a significant rebellion over plans to cut sickness and disability benefits as part of a package he said would shave £5bn off the welfare bill and get more people into work.
The government has since offered concessions ahead of a vote in the Commons on Tuesday, including exempting existing Personal Independence Payment claimants (PIP) from the stricter new criteria, while the universal credit health top-up will only be cut and frozen for new applications.
Speaking at Welsh Labour’s annual conference in Llandudno, North Wales, on Saturday, Sir Keir said: “Everyone agrees that our welfare system is broken, failing people every day.
“Fixing it is a moral imperative, but we need to do it in a Labour way, conference, and we will.”
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Starmer defends welfare U-turn
Sir Keir also warned of a “backroom stitch up” between the Conservatives, Reform UK and Plaid Cymru ahead of next year’s Senedd elections.
He said such a deal would mark a “return to the chaos and division of the last decade”.
But opposition parties have hit back at the prime minister’s “imaginary coalitions”, with Plaid Cymru accusing Labour of “scraping the barrel”.
Reform UK said the NHS “isn’t safe in Labour’s hands” and people are “left waiting in pain” while ministers “make excuses”.
Voters in Wales will head to the polls next May and recent polls suggest Labour are in third place, behind Reform and Plaid.
Labour have been the largest party at every Senedd election since devolution began in 1999.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has not ruled out making deals with Plaid Cymru or Reform at the Senedd election.
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At the conference, the prime minister was joined on stage by Wales Secretary Jo Stevens, First Minister Eluned Morgan and deputy leader of Welsh Labour Carolyn Harries.
He described Baroness Morgan as a “fierce champion for Wales” and “the best person to lead Wales into the future”.
Sir Keir said the £80m transition board to support Port Talbot steelworkers after the closure of the plant’s blast furnaces was a result of “two Labour governments working together for the people of Wales”.
He described Nigel Farage as a “wolf in Wall Street clothing” who has “no idea what he’s talking about” on the issue.
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The PM said the Reform UK leader “isn’t interested in Wales” and has no viable plan for the blast furnaces at Port Talbot.
“When you ask him about Clacton, he thinks he’s running in the 2.10 at Ascot,” Sir Keir joked.
“He’s a wolf in Wall Street clothing.”
Mr Farage has said his party wants to restart the blast furnaces at Port Talbot.
Around 20 tractors were parked on the promenade in Llandudno ahead of the speech, as farmers gathered outside the conference to stage a protest.
It was later followed by a pro-Palestine demonstration of around 200 people, with around a dozen counter-protestors also in attendance.
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