In the last three days alone, more than 500 migrants have made the dangerous voyage across the Channel on overloaded dinghies. The UK is now calling on France to play a much tougher role in turning boats back into French waters to act as a deterrent, but French authorities claim this would be difficult because the situation is not safe. Dover MP Natalie Elphicke told BBC Breakfast that it was in the interest of France to bring an end to the crisis as well.
The Tory politician addressed reports suggesting the French could ask for millions of pounds more from Britain to handle the ongoing situation.
She said: "This is a French issue as much as it's a British one. It's in the interest of France to put a stop to this illegal organised crime of people trafficking and to make sure that they don't have a Calais migrant magnet.
"We have been paying tens of millions of pounds to the French and they have treaty obligations to us.
"I think it's absolutely critical that they stop those boats leaving the French shore, that they tackle the organised crime behind these crossings and that we bring an end to this particular route."
There have even been suggestions that the Royal Navy may be drafted in to help push back migrant boats towards France.
However, the suggestion has been deemed "very dangerous" and potentially illegal under international law.
Mrs Elphicke told the BBC: "These are incredibly dangerous crossings and life has already been lost.
"So it's absolutely critical that for the safety of the migrants in northern France that we bring an end to this dangerous trafficking route."
Home Secretary Priti Patel has described the recent rise in crossings as "shameful" and called on the French Government to help make the route unviable.
The Immigration Compliance minister, Chris Philp, is going to meet his French counterparts in Paris next week.
Reportedly one of the ideas he is going to put forward is for anyone caught trying to make the crossing to have their fingerprints taken by French authorities.
Boris Johnson says the government had a ‘moral duty’ to get children back in school (Picture: Getty; Reuters)
Boris Johnson has described reopening schools as a ‘national priority’ amid reports they will be the ‘last to close’ in the event of a second coronavirus outbreak.
The Prime Minister said the government had a ‘moral duty’ to get children back in the classroom, after thousands spent lockdown learning at home. It comes as scientific advisers warned that more restrictions could be needed to ensure schools can reopen in England next month.
Johnson said: ‘This pandemic isn’t over, and the last thing any of us can afford to do is become complacent. But now that we know enough to reopen schools to all pupils safely, we have a moral duty to do so.’
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The PM added that the differences in home-schooling between the richest and most deprived families could also lead to some ‘tumbling out of education, employment or training altogether, never to return’.
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The PM has said school education is a ‘national priority’ (Picture: Getty Images)
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said there were also ‘spiralling economic costs’ of parents and carers unable to work with their children not in school.
He noted: ‘Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible.’
This weekend a Downing Street source also echoed Johnson’s words and said schools would only close as a last resort if a second lockdown occurs.
They said: ‘The PM has been clear that businesses including shops, pubs and restaurants should be forced to close first, with schools remaining open for as long as possible.’
Schools are due to return as normal in September (Picture: Reuters)
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is currently facing enormous pressure to ensure schools reopen smoothly and safely, with union bosses claiming that it will be ‘impossible’ to create an environment in which children can learn risk-free.
At present, government guidance states that pupils will not have to wear masks while at school, and social distancing rules will not be as strict as they were during the earlier months of lockdown.
Earlier this month Children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield criticised the government for treating children ‘as an afterthought’ during the Covid-19 crisis, and said the reopening of schools ‘should be prioritised’ in the event of a second peak.
However, schools minister Nick Gibb said the government could not ‘decree’ that classrooms will be the last to close, stating that it will also depend on instructions from local health chiefs.
He said that while all children currently in local lockdown, including Preston, Greater Manchester, Leicester and parts of east Lancashire and West Yorkshire, will return to school in September, this could not be guaranteed.
Gibb added: ‘You can’t decree this for every single case and it will depend on the circumstances of a local increase in the infection rate, and that is why it is being led by the director of public health in localities. But we want all children back in school.’
Mr Ross, aged 37, took over as Scottish Tory leader after Jackson Carlaw resigned last month. Writing in the Sunday Telegraph he argued the SNP are focusing on breaking up the union to distract from their record in government.
He said: “We should remember why it is that the Nationalists are so keen to have these confected rows with Westminster. They want to demonstrate that the Union is unstable.
“And, increasingly, it’s because they know it helps distract attention from their utterly abysmal record as a government in Scotland.
“Over the last few days, students from across Scotland have taken to the streets to protest over the exams fiasco which the SNP has presided over this summer.
“The Scottish Government’s incompetence in this scandal is appalling and off the scale.
“Little wonder Nicola Sturgeon is keen to point at the Westminster bogeyman rather than accept responsibility for her government’s failures.”
There has been controversy in Scotland over the way exam results have been graded by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
Some 125,000 predicted grades were lowered by the SQA based on factors like school’s historic performances.
However this disproportionately hit poorer students with 15.2 percent of those from the most deprived data zones having their grades reduced versus 6.9 percent for the most affluent.
As Mr Ross is an MP in the UK Parliament Conservative MSPs in the Scottish Parliament will be lead by Ruth Davidson.
Mr Ross also used the article to explain why he believes in the British union.
He said: “My mission – as I take over as the new leader of the Scottish Conservatives this week – is to take on the half-baked nationalist case set out by Nicola Sturgeon by re-making the positive case for the benefits of our union, a case that is as strong now as it ever has been.
“The Coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated those benefits in full.
“Millions of workers have benefited from the UK Government’s furlough scheme, one only made possible by the country’s broad fiscal shoulders.
“Nobody has been asked to set out whether they are Scottish, Welsh, English or Northern Irish in order to receive prompt support.
“As with the healthcare support we receive from the NHS when any of us walk into a hospital in any part of the UK, that is the unquestioned, unequivocal benefit we get from a union which is blind to our nationality.”
In 2014 Scotland voted against independence by 55 percent to 45 percent.
However the SNP are now demanding a second referendum on the question takes place.
Mr Ross will face his first electoral test in May with the Scottish Parliament elections.
The government has said it wants to see migrant boats intercepted at sea and directly returned to France in a bid to curb recent increases in Channel crossings.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has appointed a "clandestine Channel threat commander" who will work to make the route "unviable for small boat crossings".
Dan O'Mahoney, a former Border Force official and marine deployed to Kosovo and Iraq, will work with the French to explore what tougher action can be taken including "adopting interceptions at sea and the direct return of boats".
Britain wants Paris to stop more small vessels heading to England and take them back to French ports, rather than shepherding them onward until they reach British waters.
A government source told Sky News on Saturday that a "passive blockade" in the Channel was being considered, with the Ministry of Defence being asked for assistance by the Home Office amid reports the Navy could be brought in.
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Image:A group of migrants are seen sat against a Border Force van waiting to be processed in Kent
Immigration minister Chris Philp will meet his French counterparts next week as he seeks to shut down the Calais-to-Britain route completely.
Kent County Council has said that 400 migrant children have been taken into its care this year, including 60 in the first week of August and 23 on Friday alone.
Image:A pregnant woman walks near the coast of Dungeness after arriving in the UK this week. Pic: Susan Pilcher
Ministers are believed to be looking at surveillance, reconnaissance and command controls as potential ways of reducing crossings.
But Helen Baron, a solicitor who is representing a number of migrants who arrived in the UK by boat, says the tactics are illegal and could risk lives.
"It's completely illegal under international law and it's deeply concerning that these kind of statements are coming out of government, they must know it's completely against the law", she said.
UK heatwave allows more migrants to cross the Channel
Former Labour shadow home secretary Diane Abbott commented: "The danger is that if you try and blockade these boats, which are mostly rubber dinghies and mostly steered by people who are not experienced sailors, then the boats tip over and people die."
But Ms Patel said: "The number of illegal small boat crossings is appalling.
"We are working to make this route unviable and arresting the criminals facilitating these crossings and making sure they are brought to justice."
Migrants met by Border Force in Kent
On Saturday morning in Kingsdown in Kent, a boat carrying 14 people - including two pregnant women and a child - arrived on the shore, an eyewitness told Sky News.
She said: "A pregnant lady had to be assisted off by the ambulance service to go to hospital because she was clearly about to give birth.
"It was a mad show... I've never seen anything like that in my time. It was literally just random and just popped up on shore... All the border patrol and the coastguard were coming down at the same time because they caught them all at the same time when they got in."
Migrants beach landing 'was a mad show'
Another dinghy with 12 people on board was later filmed being intercepted by a Border Force patrol boat.
A vessel carrying 19 people and a migrant in a wheelchair was also among those seen being brought ashore at Dover this weekend.
Boris Johnson says it is a "national priority" and a "moral duty" to get all pupils back in class next month, raising the prospect of closing shops, pubs and restaurants in local lockdowns to allow schools to stay open.
In a newspaper article, the prime minister writes that "social justice demands" that classrooms are full again, and says education is crucial for children's welfare and future - especially the most disadvantaged.
He warns of the "spiralling economic costs" of parents and carers being unable to work, adding: "Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible."
Image:The prime minister has spoken of 'a moral duty' to get all children back in class
Mr Johnson is understood to favour only closing schools as the last resort after scientific advisers warned further interventions may be needed to reopen classrooms in England next month.
Children's commissioner for England Anne Longfield had said the reopening of schools "should be prioritised", insisting they must be first to reopen and last to close during any reintroduction of restrictions.
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But schools minister Nick Gibb said this week that the government could not "decree" that classroom education would be prioritised, instead saying decisions would be made by local health chiefs.
Shadow health secretary: School reopening should be 'national priority'
However, a Number 10 source said on Saturday that Mr Johnson's expectation is that schools would be the last sector to close, with businesses being shut first in the event of severe local lockdowns.
More from Boris Johnson
"The PM has been clear that businesses including shops, pubs and restaurants should be forced to close first, with schools remaining open for as long as possible," the source said.
Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, warned last week that the nation has "probably reached near the limit or the limits" of what can be done to reopen society safely.
And Professor Neil Ferguson, whose modelling led to the decision to impose the lockdown, suggested ministers would need to "row back on the relaxation of restrictions" to allow a full-time return to schools while keeping the virus under control.
Regarding getting all pupils back, Mr Johnson writes in the Mail on Sunday: "This pandemic isn't over, and the last thing any of us can afford to do is become complacent. But now that we know enough to reopen schools to all pupils safely, we have a moral duty to do so."
He says the "costs of school closure have fallen disproportionately on the most disadvantaged, the very children who need school the most", and time out of class leads to lower academic attainment on average, affecting "future life chances".
There is a concern, he writes, that "some will tumble out of education, employment or training altogether, never to return".
'School attendance mandatory from September'
He also says the "less children are in school, the worse it is for their health".
Citing Sport England, the PM says a third of children have done less physical activity in lockdown, "with many suffering from poorer mental health".
While the PM warns about complacency, he also points out that scientists have "learned more about how the virus spreads and how we can control it".
He says scientists from the government's advisory group SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) have advised that the risk of children becoming severely ill with COVID-19 is low.
He adds that the government has "worked closely with teaching unions and school leaders on measures to ensure our schools are COVID-secure".
Pictures emerged yesterday of beaches in Dorset packed full of tourists despite the Government's advice on social distancing. In light of the high number of people heading to the beach, Express.co.uk asked readers on Saturday, "Do you feel safe visiting beaches in 36C Britain today despite coronavirus?" Voting on the poll, 1,695 (80 percent) out of 2,141 insisted they didn't feel safe visiting the beaches at the moment.
In addition, 426 stated they would feel safe while just 20 weren't sure.
Commenting on the poll, one person said: "I live less than a 10-minute walk to the beach but there is no way I am going anywhere near it. Crazy people!"
A second person said: "Complete selfishness."
A third said: "It's not a matter of 'feeling safe', is it.
"It's about not wanting to help spread the virus, wanting to reduce the number of infections."
A fourth said: "I don't even feel safe where I live."
Due to the high volume of people descending on Bournemouth beach yesterday, the local council issued a red alert emergency.
The warning states social distancing is now impossible to maintain due to the large number of people.
