The United Kingdom is incompetent and appalling badly governed – official. Non other than the Mayor of Calais and leading officials in France and Germany have stated exactly in the past few days.
In a BBC Radio interview the British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper appeared to avoid the key issues waxing on about “cracking down” on criminal gangs sending people across the Channel in small boats.
But the real issue, as emphasised by the Mayor of Calais and others, in particular in France and Germany is that, to quote, “the British are too soft”.
That is a judgement echoed in every discussion I have been privy to over the past three years. It is not a party political matter.
The issue is, in simple terms, the absence of identity cards in the UK.
This is an issue that the people of Britain, and politicians especially, seem unable to grasp. As the Mayor of Calais and a host of important figures in the EU, but especially those involved in dealing with literally millions of illegal migrants seeking better lives are stating clearly “Migrants know that they can get all sorts of benefits if they set foot in Britain, and the word has spread around the globe”.
A German political leader speaking on the BBC following Yvette Cooper stated that they intend cracking down on migrants at their border and those that are not genuine refugees will be offered the chance to return where they came from or be sent to Rwanda, an arrangement that the UK paid over £70 million to set up.
That Yvette Cooper was not asked about identity cards is yet another example of media failure, or bias. I would not suggest the latter because if there is one thing that the UK is not soft on, that is prosecuting journalists.
So why are identity cards such an issue?
The current government was told by former Prime Minister Tony Blair when they came to office that they should introduce them but they have never been mentioned in this regime’s policy discussions nor by any opposition party.
A BBC TV documentary a few months ago asked a Syrian who crossed the Channel in a small boat why people want to risk their lives doing this. He answered that in France and other EU countries it is not possible to get a job without an ID card.
Fact: employers in France and across the EU face prosecution and fines if they employ people not legally resident.
In Britain, the word among would be migrants is that medical care does not require an ID card, accommodation does not require an ID card, social services do not require ID cards.
Hence the factual legend that if one can get onto the beach at Dover they will give you food, money and somewhere to live as well as free medical care. That was repeatedly stated to me when I was reporting on the hordes waiting in Calais to cross the Channel.
Compare that to the country where I lived for many years and was required to register to get an ID card, Belgium.
A national number, proven by an ID card, is required to be carried at all times. Not having one if stopped leads to arrest until it can be produced and if a person has not got one they are generally put on a train or plane back to where they originated.
They cannot get medical care unless registered, or unless they pay. Emergency care is billed to their country of origin if they can’t pay or have no insurance.
Cracking down on criminal gangs behind what are now known as the ‘boat people’ involves cooperation with police and other organisations outside the UK jurisdiction and there was a suggestion in the Radio interview referred to at the beginning that countries around the world will get financial assistance to help stop migrants. The UK under previous regimes paid millions to France to stop migrants crossing the Channel with little or no practical effect.
The Labour government under Gordon Brown in 2008/2009 attempted to introduce ID cards but failed. Public protest was based largely on the falsity that they would encroach on privacy, and also because the government wanted to put huge amounts of information on them.
In Belgium and across Europe ID cards have a person’s name, national registration number photograph and fingerprint – no address is shown because legitimate authorities only can look that up from the national number and name.
Britain’s current government is facing a virtual collapse of the National Health Service, prisons are in a desperate state with little or no provision for training and reforming prisoners. Police are failing some say criminally to deal with crime. ID cards would undoubtedly assist the police, and would cut down the queues at hospitals and surgeries.
Yet nowhere in the political or administrative spectrum have I been able to trace any mention of the idea since reports of Tony Blair’s suggestion.
That is until the comments by the Mayor of Calais! C’est la vie, toujours la meme chose…
Main Image: By Home Office/PAQueen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, in right of Her Government in the United Kingdom;Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department;Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs – https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/calais-migrant-crisis-means-id-6243331, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54697463
