The United Kingdom has accused the European Union of playing politics with the migrant crisis by deliberately impeding progress on a potential deal with France.
UK sources claim the European Commission is “turning a blind eye to people dying” by refusing to enter talks to allow Britain to send migrants who have crossed the Channel back to France – blaming “post-Brexit shenanigans”.
EU officials are understood to have claimed that the right to negotiate asylum and readmission agreement rests entirely with the bloc, and not individual member states.
Speaking with the Telegraph, a Commission spokesperson said that the post-Brexit trade agreement with the UK “does not include provisions on asylum and return”, and “for the moment, our focus is on its implementation and we are not considering pursuing further negotiations to complement the agreement”.
Tory MPs have said that the only way to end the trade in smuggling migrants across the Channel is to deter migrants by showing they would be turned round and returned at sea, or removed from the UK if they reached its shores.
The number of people who have illegally entered the UK in small boats this year has already exceeded 10,000, with 482 people alone crossing on Wednesday.
A Tory source accused the European Commission of “turning a blind eye to people dying”, while a government source suggested the issue had become embroiled in “post-Brexit shenanigans”.
Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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