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Corbyn: Britain should do more for migrants in France who have UK connection Corbyn: UK should do more for refugees in France who have UK connection
(about 3 hours later)
Britain should do more to process asylum applications from refugees in camps at the French border who have a connection with the UK, Jeremy Corbyn has said. Refugees at camps in Calais and Dunkirk should be allowed to come to Britain if they have a clear family connection to the country, Jeremy Corbyn has said.
The Labour leader said the “very, very dangerous” situation of migrants trying to cross the channel illegally cannot be allowed to continue. He also hit out at conditions in the camps in the Calais area, describing one he visited at the weekend as a “fetid swamp”. The Labour leader set out his thinking on how to address the refugee crisis after visiting the camps on Saturday, saying it was up to the governments of the UK and France “to be a bit more human about this”.
Migrants at camps in places such as Calais and Dunkirk can make applications for asylum in the UK if they have a connection to the country but Corbyn called for the government to do more to help process those in the camps. Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Corbyn said he was not suggesting that all 9,000 people in the French camps at the border should be allowed into the UK but said Britain should do more to process the asylum claims of those with a family connection.
In an interview with Sky News, he said: “My solution is a very obvious one. We go through the process of every person in those camps that wants to come to Britain, that has a connection with Britain, process their application.” Some of those at camps in places such as Calais and Dunkirk can make applications for asylum in the UK if they have a connection to the country under the Dublin regulations but there have been numerous reports that this is not functioning properly.
He added: “We are talking about 3,000 people in Dunkirk – it’s not very many.” Corbyn also repeated calls for the UK to help very vulnerable migrant children who are travelling alone and highlighted the UK’s “human responsibility to reach out” to refugees. Corbyn said he could not put a number on how many refugees should be allowed into the UK but said some in the camps were being denied entry to the UK even though they have British passports.
To those who say that Labour partly lost the election because it failed to address concerns about immigration, Corbyn said the party “did not sufficiently explain the role that migrant communities have”, particularly in the NHS and education. “We cannot ignore the fact there are a large number of people in a very serious, deeply depressed state and they need our human help,” he said.
It was reported at the weekend that the government was considering letting in about 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children who have fled war zones. Labour and charities including Save the Children have led calls for the UK to admit more vulnerable, young people who are at risk of falling prey to people traffickers. Related: France vows to maintain order in Calais after migrants board ferry
Corbyn, who visited camps at Dunkirk and Calais on Saturday, said the UK must offer refugees proper homes and education, not just the bare minimum of refuge. He compared the plight of refugees in Europe to the Jewish kindertransport children escaping Nazi Germany. He said he did not condone British anarchists who are said to be partly behind a raid on a ferry terminal in France but highlighted the “cri de coeur” of young volunteers who are calling for more to be done for unaccompanied migrant children in particular.
“The amount of people we are talking about is a total of 9,000 in those camps, and there are clearly many on the borders of Europe, many more in Greece. Greece and Italy have a far greater problem than any other country and they need help as well,” he said.
Over the weekend, Corbyn said the “very, very dangerous” situation of migrants trying to cross the channel illegally cannot be allowed to continue. He also hit out at conditions in the Calais camps, describing one he visited at the weekend as a “fetid swamp”.
In an interview with Sky News, he said: “My solution is a very obvious one. We go through the process of every person in those camps that wants to come to Britain, that has a connection with Britain, and process their application.”
He added: “We are talking about 3,000 people in Dunkirk – it’s not very many.” Corbyn also repeated calls for the UK to help the most vulnerable migrant children who are travelling alone and highlighted the UK’s “human responsibility to reach out” to refugees.
Related: 'Kids could die in the cold': the race to rehouse Calais refugees
To those who say Labour partly lost the election because it failed to address concerns about immigration, Corbyn said the party “did not sufficiently explain the role that migrant communities have”, particularly in the NHS and education.
It was reported at the weekend that the government was considering letting in about 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children who have fled war zones. Labour and charities including Save the Children have led calls for the UK to admit more vulnerable young people who are at risk of falling prey to people traffickers.
Corbyn said the UK must offer refugees proper homes and education, not just the bare minimum of refuge. He compared the plight of refugees in Europe to the Jewish kindertransport children escaping Nazi Germany.
The UK has agreed to accept about 20,000 refugees from the Syrian borders by 2020.The UK has agreed to accept about 20,000 refugees from the Syrian borders by 2020.