LE £30M RANSOM
France demands another £30million to stop migrants leaving its shores as 565 cross Channel in four days
HUNDREDS of migrants crossed the Channel to Britain in small boats at the weekend — as France demanded another £30million to stop them leaving its shores.
Another 65 made the perilous trip yesterday after at least 150 did so on Saturday.
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It took the total number to more than 565 in just four days.
This year, more than 4,000 migrants have crossed illegally in dinghies and other small craft — double last year’s entire total.
A diplomatic team will head to Paris this week to thrash out a deal with France over the crisis.
Home Office minister Chris Philp and his team will meet French officials who are said to be seeking a further £30million to deal with boats launched from beaches near Calais.
Britain has already paid more than £100million to fund the French response to the crisis in recent years.
Mr Philp said: “We have to make the route completely unviable. Then migrants will have no incentive to come to northern France or attempt the crossing in the first place.”
Yesterday, a toddler was among those brought ashore on a Border Force patrol boat.
Several other children, including a baby, were brought in with adults later in the day.
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About 750 migrants are camped in a new makeshift site in a field next to a hospital in Calais.
Many say they are planning to cross the Channel soon.
Migrants told The Sun that they believed the risk of dying on a small boat was worth it if they were to achieve their aim of reaching Britain — which some labelled “heaven”.
They are desperate to be given the nod by smugglers who often charge thousands for a spot on a small dinghy before being shoved out in the direction of Dover.
The migrants have already travelled from Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Tunisia and Afghanistan.
Mohammed Yousef, 34, who has been in the camp for several weeks after arriving from Sudan, said: “I’ve already risked so much and been through so much danger to get here.
"It’s all to get to the UK. It’s a brilliant place. We all want to enter the UK.”
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Mohammed Ahmed, 36, worked as a mechanical engineer in Sudan and is hoping to carry out the same role in Britain.
He said: “So many people are getting over there easily. It’s very appealing. It’s not an easy decision. It could go wrong. But the outcome could be amazing.”
The Government has said it wants to bring in the Navy to bolster its response.
Migrant boat is handed over from French to English border forces as the British Government has called on France to take tougher action on migrant boats
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Calais MP Pierre Henri Dumont said earlier in the week that trying to stop migrants crossing was "like trying to empty the sea with a spoon."
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke has constantly called for migrants to be returned to France irrespective of whether they are intercepted in French or British waters.
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Over 4,000 migrants have reached the UK in small boats this year.
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