William Hague backs immigration controls after migrant boat disasters
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Version 0 of 1. The former foreign secretary, William Hague, has warned against relaxing immigration controls after hundreds of migrants died in Mediterranean boat disasters over the last week. The senior Tory said the UK would play a role in any EU agreement to help rescue migrants, but he did not think the answer was to loosen immigration controls. Related: Libyan people smuggler derides EU plan for military action “Uncontrolled immigration is not the answer to anybody’s problems and would probably create even greater flows out of Africa and into the Mediterranean and into these desperate situations. “Of course the UK will play its role in whatever is agreed in the EU council meeting, but we will have to see what is agreed and how we can play our part in that,” he told Sky News. Ed Miliband accused Hague of being prepared to see refugees drown in the Mediterranean for fear that if they were rescued there would be a pull factor drawing other poor people from Africa to Europe. Speaking in Manchester, the Labour leader criticised the decision to abandon European rescue missions, and said it should be restored at the EU emergency council meeting on Thursday. “The original decision was a mistake and it should be reversed,” he said. Referring to Hague’s stance, Miliband said: “The logic is we will not rescue drowning people. The logic is that are leaving people to die because it is a pull factor. We are better than that as a country. It is about basic humanity.” Hague’s tone was similar to that of Ukip’s leader, Nigel Farage, who on Monday night opposed the prospect of “waves of millions of people” coming into Europe from north Africa if the response to the disasters is not strong enough. Farage, however, would rather send in the Royal Navy to help rescue migrants than take part in any co-ordinated EU action, which he said would be a step closer to a common immigration policy. Related: Migrant boat captain arrested as survivors of sinking reach Italy David Cameron has signalled that the UK would be prepared to join EU efforts to rescue migrants following the deaths of around 400 and then 800 in two separate boat disasters. Previously, the government has resisted the idea of restarting full search-and-rescue missions, saying it could create a pull factor. The prime minister will attend an EU meeting on Thursday aimed at tackling the crisis as fears grow that the deaths will not put desperate people off paying smugglers to take them from north Africa to Europe. The EU has put together a 10-point plan that includes strengthening and expanding the range of its Triton patrol service and powers to capture and destroy boats used by smugglers. Since it was introduced last year, Triton has only monitored within 30 miles of the European coast, without going further into the Mediterranean as the previous Italian search-and-rescue operation did. Related: Lord Ashdown: destroy migrant smugglers' boats before they leave port Yvette Cooper, Labour’s home affairs spokeswoman, said the EU plan and the UK’s involvement did not go nearly far enough, and that Europe needed something more on the scale of the Mare Nostrum programme that ended last year. “We have a humanitarian crisis on Europe’s southern shores and the terrible sight of children’s bodies being carried out of the waves should shame governments into realising that this response is still painfully weak,” she said. “A bit of additional funding for Operation Triton is no replacement for a properly funded EU search-and-rescue operation. That is what is needed and what we will continue to push for ahead of the emergency summit on Thursday.” Related: Migrant tragedies: what can be done to end the crisis? She also called for a comprehensive European plan of action to tackle the toxic mix of Libya’s instability and the smugglers and traffickers profiting from death. Currently, the Home Office has sent a five-member team – up from one – to debrief and gather intelligence from the migrants who survived the dangerous journey. “Our current position is that we agreed to provide four debriefing experts and one screening expert to Operation Triton in 2015,” a spokesman said. |