The second, less well-attended stop for the outrage bus today after Cecil the lion is the situation in Calais. One young man died last night as he tried to enter the Channel Tunnel, while others have managed to make it through to the UK. Theresa May said this afternoon that migrants who had successfully reached their destination ‘will be dealt with in the normal way of looking at these asylum claims’.
Some politicians from other parties have been commenting on the government’s handling of the situation, with Nigel Farage saying that ‘unless something radical is done, it is only a matter of time before a British holiday maker or a British lorry driver gets killed there too’. The implication of this, of course, is that things will get really serious when a British person dies as a result of the crisis. Tim Farron has had his say, too, arguing that ‘if you don’t give people hope, they will resort to desperate measures’ and that Britain should accept its fair share of refugees.
But what has been odd is that Labour hasn’t been very visible today. The Government is struggling to maintain control of the UK border, yet it is down to a divisive character like Farage and a leader of a tiny party like Farron to comment. So far the party doesn’t seem to have issued a press statement, let alone made a big push on the airwaves. David Hanson has spoken to BBC News, but the party doesn’t seem to be launching anything more concerted.
Now, there are lots of reasons why Labour’s spokespeople might not be out there, chief among them being the leadership contest. But this does not apply to many other stories presently: Liz Kendall was in the papers as Shadow Care Minister over the weekend talking about the government’s decision to delay the cap on social care costs, for instance.
It is odd that on an issue that all four leadership candidates should have some interest in, the party hasn’t said anything at all. More than odd, it’s not very politically clever, and it’s also a bit of a dereliction of duty for an opposition, which is of course likely to play politics with problems for the government, but is supposed to, in a grander sense, hold the government to account on those problems too. Labour shouldn’t leave it two men with nine MPs between them.
UPDATE, 3.10pm:
Harriet Harman has now given a pooled clip to ITV:
‘This is not just a problem in Calais now, it is a major problem in Kent as well. As long ago as nine months ago we were pressing the government that they needed to get on to this and sort this out and in fact I raised this with the Prime Minister in the House of Commons earlier last month.
‘The government have failed to get it sorted out and as a result people who have worked all year for their holidays are now stuck in traffic jams without information and it is having a big economic impact on the road haulage industry too.
‘What the government should be doing is getting the French to process the 3,500 to 4,000 people who are massed at Calais and need to be documented. Either they are genuine asylum-seekers who should be given asylum or they should be deported.
‘The government should have got on to this months earlier.’
Isabel Hardman
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