This week's MP's column comes from Philip Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley

SINCE the start of the year, it is believed that more than 25,000 people have made the dangerous journey between France and England on dinghies and small boats. 

Sometimes recently more than 1,000 people per day have been crossing the English Channel.

This is completely and utterly unacceptable and if the recent drowning of at least 27 men, women and children onboard one flimsy boat does not force action I do not know what will.

In 2020 the numbers crossing were significantly lower, a third of this year’s total – around 8,500 - and it was substantially less than that in previous years. 

The current numbers will just continue to grow unless the UK Government takes action – and quickly.

Those making the crossings are mainly illegal immigrants. 

These people are not asylum seekers because France is a perfectly safe country and anyone genuinely fleeing persecution could seek refuge there or in any other safe country they had passed through.

It is also quite clear from interviews with those making the journeys that they are not asylum seekers. 

They are often people seeking a financially better life - or even just a better life than the one they have - yet figures from the Home Office show that 98 per cent of those who survived the perilous journey in the first half of 2020 claimed asylum when they arrived here.

I have raised this whole issue privately with Priti Patel as well as on the floor of the House of Commons and I know she is just as angry about it as I am. 

So what can and should be done?

The boats should be turned around, towed back and escorted back to the French waters or those coming over should be sent back to France on the first available ferry. Under no circumstances can we continue to house these people at taxpayers’ expense and treat them as genuine asylum seekers.

The focus also needs to be on preventing people from attempting to cross the channel in the first place – we must eliminate the pull factors.   

A good start would be to make changes to the support that is provided for those who arrive. 

When these people reach the UK, they receive free accommodation and, on top of that, £39.63 per week on a payment card for food, clothing and toiletries. 

Even when someone’s application is denied, the exact same support remains in place.   

Everyone from genuine asylum seekers to illegal immigrants are treated the same. What kind of message does that send? 

Surely the moment you have been refused asylum, and therefore deemed to be an illegal immigrant, all state support should be removed.  No wonder people are wanting to get here from France and are prepared to risk their lives to do so.

We also generally need to deal with any potentially genuine asylum claims in centres and we need a much quicker processing time to determine who is an asylum seeker and who is not. 

This will not only return people back to their own countries quicker, but it will also prove to others thinking of making the trip that we will not stand for being taken advantage of.

It is a huge concern that not only does the current process take far too long given the appeals that can be made but then that many failed asylum seekers are still lingering in the country long after they have been declared to be illegal immigrants - all while they benefit from the free accommodation and money that we provide for them. 

Last week I asked Priti Patel again about this madness in the House of Commons.  The Government’s solution seems to be the Nationality and Borders Bill.  However, this is going to take many more months before passing through Parliament and, as things stand, it is clear the French authorities have no intention of taking the action required to stop the huge numbers of people crossing in the meantime.

We need take a much harder line and to implement some further practical measures sooner rather than later.

If nothing is done now, traffickers will continue to send crammed dinghies across the channel, more people will possibly die trying to make the crossing and the British taxpayer will continue to pay for all those who arrive. 

We cannot wait any longer. It is now down to the UK to take control and fix this, without any further delay.

  • Philip Davies is the Conservative MP for Shipley. The views expressed here are his own.