MPs call for safe routes for refugees across the Channel to stop people drowning
RAMP Principals Caroline Nokes MP, David Simmonds MP, Tim Farron MP, Neil Coyle MP and Lord Bishop of Durham Paul Butler were featured in the Independent on 13th August with reference to their statement on safe routes for refugees.
Cross-party group including Tories say safe routes needed to undercut smugglers and traffickers
A cross-party group of MPs has called for the government to create safe routes for refugees to cross the channel, following the death of another man in the sea on Thursday.
The group, which includes Conservatives from Boris Johnson's own party, says that "sufficient alternative safe routes need to be provided by the Government to discourage asylum seekers from using gangs and making unsafe crossings".
The latest casualty occurred when a small boat carrying about 40 people began to sink in French waters.
Lifeboats as well as French and Belgian helicopters took part in a rescue operation after the boat got into difficulty – but the man lost his life.
The latest statement has been signed by Conservative MPs Caroline Nokes and David Simmonds, Liberal Democrat Tim Farron, Labour MP Neil Coyle and House of Lords cross bencher Lord Bishop of Durham Paul Butler.
The signatories, supporters of the Refugee, Asylum & Migration Policy Project, say agreements need to be put in place to help people who have reached Europe and have family in Britain to claim asylum legally.
And they say more refugees should be resettled in the UK from their current "very low" rates.
The government has responded to a surge in crossings by using tougher criminal sanctions on people who make it across safety, and giving Border Force new powers to force people making crossings to turn back.
Most people trying to cross the channel manage to outwit the Home Office and make it to shore, with more than 10,700 estimated to have successfully crossed in small boats this year.
Hundreds of people a day are currently reaching the UK in small boats. People who reach the UK have a right to claim asylum under British treaty obligations, though unauthorised entry is illegal under domestic law.