Monday, Sep 16th 2024
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Investigation opens in France into deaths as David Lammy says UK could process asylum claimants in third country Eight people died overnight trying to cross the Channel from France to England, French regional authorities have said, as the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the government could follow Italy’s lead and process asylum claimants in a third country. The French maritime prefecture said 59 people were onboard the boat, which got into difficulty off the coast of France, and 51 of them were rescued. An investigation has been opened by the Boulogne-sur-Mer public prosecutor’s office. A 10-month-old baby was among those taken to hospital with suspected hypothermia after the boat ran aground near Ambleteuse at about 1.15am on Sunday. All those who died were adult men. Responding to the reports, Lammy told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme that the government has been “discussing how we go after those gangs, in cooperation upstream with other European partners”. Keir Starmer will be in Italy on Monday for talks with the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, about her efforts to tackle the problem “and the work they have done, particularly, with Albania”. Lammy said: “They have a comprehensive scheme with Albania understanding that [the] Albania route, as well as the Channel and the southern Mediterranean, are routes which migrants use. So of course, because it has reduced the numbers, we are interested in discussing with Italy the schemes they have developed, not just with Albania.” But in a sign of government confusion over the issue, a Home Office source indicated that Lammy’s claim of a possible third-party scheme was not government policy. “It is not something we are working on,” the source said, adding that Italy’s plan to process asylum seekers in Albania could not be seen as having reduced the numbers because it was not fully operational yet. Italy, which receives the most migrant arrivals in the EU, opened the first of two planned camps in neighbouring Albania in August but has not yet sent people there. People will start to arrive at the camps only once both are open and operational. Starmer has said he is interested in the rollout of the policy, under which Albania will accept asylum seekers on Italy’s behalf while their claims are processed.
