Dr. Stephen Ladyman

Labour Party | Thanet South

Ladyman calls on French to work with UK government on asylum

Following a heated debate with French journalist Mark Roche on the BBC's Despatch Box last Thursday, Steve Ladyman, Member of Parliament for South Thanet, today called on the French Government to deliver on its asylum promises. Although, agreements were made at the Seville summit on timetables for tighter border controls, a common definition of refugee status, an end to asylum shopping, and the procedure for allocating responsibility for asylum seekers, a long-overdue agreement on Sangatte has still not been reached.

‘We need to deal with the problem of illegal immigration at a European level as there is a limit to what any one country can do on its own. I am delighted with the progress that was made at the Seville summit but am disappointed that we have still been unable to reach an agreement with the French over the Sangatte camp.'

‘What we really need is for the French Government to work with us on this one. As our allies and friends in Europe it is simply not on that they allow illegal immigrants to languish in their country with the full knowledge that they are waiting for the first opportunity to cross the channel and sneak into Britain. If they arrive in France, it is surely the responsibility of the French to process their asylum applications? We stand ready to help them with the administration and financial burden of this and are also willing to act on those factors that are drawing so many illegal immigrants to Britain in the first place.'

‘It is my sincere hope that David Blunkett, in his meeting today with new French interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, will be able to convince him that the French are being unreasonable in their failure to close the Sangatte camp. If this can't be agreed today, I would ask them to start processing the asylum claims of those in the Sangatte camp as an act of good faith until our two Governments work out the fine details of how we are going to handle this issue.'