International News

LONDON, (APP/AFP): A British EU exit could mean thousands of
migrants landing on Britain’s shores “overnight”, the government said on Monday, stepping up the rhetoric in the campaign ahead of a referendum on membership.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokesman said a “Brexit” could
undermine a Franco-British bilateral agreement that allows Britain to carry out border checks on French soil, stopping many migrants.
“Should Britain leave the EU there’s no guarantee those controls
would remain in place,” Cameron’s spokesman told reporters at a daily briefing.
“If those controls weren’t in place there would be nothing to stop
thousands of people crossing the Channel overnight and arriving in Kent
(southeast England) and claiming asylum,” he said.
The Le Touquet border treaty was signed in 2003 by the then British
and French interior ministers David Blunkett and Nicolas Sarkozy following a series of riots at the Sangatte migrant camp near Calais.
The treaty allowed for joint British and French border controls in
Channel ports in France, easing the pressure on Britain’s border force that came from the thousands of migrants from Sangatte who were making daily attempts to board Channel Tunnel trains.
“There are any number of opposition politicians in France who would
love to tear up the excellent agreement we have with France,” Cameron said after a speech later in the day.