OPINION – CAROLE MALONE: The French government is robbing us blind.
Carole Malone, left, says Macron should be told to stuff his latest migrant deal (Image: Express / Getty)
So, Emmanuel Macron has stuffed us up royal-style yet again. He’s managed to make this gormless government cough up yet another half a billion quid for doing beggar all to stop illegal migrants. Shabana Mahmood, who has agreed a £660million three-year deal, was adamant nothing would be paid unless it was linked to tangible results. Well, that hasn’t happened. Because Macron’s been given an unconditional £500millon for beach patrols and the only results-based payment is the extra £160million – to be staggered over three years. We were originally told those payments wouldn’t be made unless there were tangible results. Now, we’re being told that even if migrant numbers rocket that extra money will probably still be paid.
So when asked what “results” would justify the extra cash a Starmer spokesman said: “We’re working on that.” Whaaat? Wouldn’t you think they’d have “worked on it” before cutting the deal? This is beyond farcical, not least because Mahmood has not demanded a specific number for reductions in crossings to justify the extra money. So how can you demand results if you don’t tell the people involved what results you want?
Another of the things supposedly agreed is that French officers will now stop the boats at sea. What officials here aren’t saying is they’ll only do that with boats carrying less than 20 people. Now when have you ever seen one of those boats take off with less than 20? The answer’s never. So, intervention in the water’s never going to happen.
But even if France does lose that extra £160million because their results are risible, they won’t care. They’ve already banked a no-strings £500million.
We’re told some of the money is being used for two helicopters (how can they drag migrants out of boats?) and extra police – which only works if the beach patrol officers who smoke and eat sandwiches as migrants clamber onto boats get off their idle backsides and stop them.
The bottom line is that the French are never going to put their backs into stopping migrants because they don’t want to. They want them to come here (84,000 in the last three years) because they don’t want them in Calais or anywhere else in France. It serves their purpose to help them onto the boats and steer them into British waters.
It’s time we stopped giving France the money to solve OUR migrant problem because it’s not in their interests to do so. And they’ve proved that in recent years having robbed us of £1.3billion and left us with ever-increasing numbers crossing the channel.
If Mahmood had been serious about getting tough with the French, she’d have made the whole £660million deal results-based. But she didn’t. So, we can expect them to keep coming till we get a government that has the guts to stop the boats and tell the French where to stick their deal.