UN moves to cut Channel migrants

Up to 1,000 migrants are thought to be in the camps at any given time

Kent MPs have welcomed a move by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to cut the number of illegal immigrants trying to cross the English Channel.

The agency is to set up an office in the French town of Calais, where thousands of migrants are squatting in the hope of entering the UK via Kent.

UNHCR spokesman Francisco Galindo said it would provide information about requesting asylum in France instead.

Tory Damian Green and Labour's Gwyn Prosser welcomed the scheme cautiously.

There are an estimated 1,000 migrants in makeshift camps in Calais at any given time.

The UNHCR said migrants sometimes stayed at the camps for months before stowing away on a truck or ferry.

French authorities have said they plan to close the area, known as "the jungle", by the end of this year and replace it with a temporary centre offering migrants food and shelter.

The UNHCR said its office would open in Calais on Wednesday.

'European problem'

Mr Galindo, who was on a fact-finding tour of the town on Thursday, said it was a very complex situation.

"We are not saying that the only solution to the problem is through asylum," he said.

"It is seen as a French problem, but it really is a regional and European problem."

Shadow immigration spokesman Mr Green, MP for Ashford, said the UNHCR move was a "gesture worth making".

"But I remain to be convinced as to how effective it will be," he said.

"It is only three people...and these (migrants) will have travelled, in many cases, halfway across the world."

Dover MP Mr Prosser said the fact that the UN was independent of the French and British governments gave it credibility.

"I hope they will be able to dissuade those who think there is a land of milk and honey over here that things are not like that," he said.

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