This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/14/calais-secure-zone-theresa-may-lorries
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| New Calais 'secure zone' to protect UK-bound lorries, government says | New Calais 'secure zone' to protect UK-bound lorries, government says |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A new secure zone is to be set up in Calais to protect lorries from migrants trying to climb on board to enter Britain illegally, the home secretary has announced. | A new secure zone is to be set up in Calais to protect lorries from migrants trying to climb on board to enter Britain illegally, the home secretary has announced. |
| Theresa May told MPs the move came after authorities at the French port had intercepted more than 8,000 attempts by migrants to enter Britain illegally in the last three weeks. | Theresa May told MPs the move came after authorities at the French port had intercepted more than 8,000 attempts by migrants to enter Britain illegally in the last three weeks. |
| She said the secure zone for freight vehicles queueing to cross the Channel would provide protection for the equivalent of a 2.5-mile queue of lorries on the open approach roads, where they have been targeted by criminal gangs. | She said the secure zone for freight vehicles queueing to cross the Channel would provide protection for the equivalent of a 2.5-mile queue of lorries on the open approach roads, where they have been targeted by criminal gangs. |
| The move follows reports that three more people were injured on Tuesday when they tried to cross the Channel illegally, and that an Eritrean refugee had died last week when he tried to board a freight train. | The move follows reports that three more people were injured on Tuesday when they tried to cross the Channel illegally, and that an Eritrean refugee had died last week when he tried to board a freight train. |
| May said that extra fencing should also be in place by the end of July to enable more tourist cars and vans to queue within the secure part of the port and to help secure the approaches to the Channel Tunnel at nearby Coquelles, where repeated incursions have taken place in the last few weeks. | |
| She said that the new secure lorry park would provide a secure waiting area for 230 lorries: “This should transform protection for lorries and their drivers - removing them from their open road where they can become targets for migrants attempting to board their vehicles.” | |
| The home secretary said that she would also meet with Kent MPs and acknowledged the “forbearance of the residents of Kent, who suffered disruption due to the build up of traffic on local roads caused by the French strike.” | |
| May directly linked the situation in Calais to the refugee crisis in north Africa and the migrant boats risking the journey across the Mediterranean: “The government is clear that we must break the link between people making the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean and achieving settlement in Europe,” she said. “And we must target and disrupt the organised criminal gangs who profit from their fellow humans’ misery, selling them false promises before loading them onto dangerous vessels and sending them - in many cases - to their deaths.” | |
| She told MPs that 90 officers were being deployed as part of the task force in the UK and the Mediterranean to target the traffickers. | |
| The home secretary reassured backbench Conservative MPs that she would not listen to pleas from the Mayor of Calais for Britain to take more of the migrants who had gathered at the Channel port arguing that would only act as ‘a pull factor’ for many more to come. | |
| The mayor of calais, Natacha Bouchart, has declined an invitation to give evidence to the Commons home affairs committee on Tuesday on the situation. MPs are due to hear from representatives of Eurotunnel, the Road Haulage Association and the Freight Transport Association. | |
| ends |