Ann Widdecombe rages at France for giving ‘nothing’ in return for £480m migrant deal

Ann Widdecombe slams France over migrant deal Ann Widdecombe ripped into France for giving “absolutely nothing in return” for the £480 million migrant deal. The former Conservative minister claimed Paris has “no interest” in helping Britain get a grip on the small boats crisis. Ms Widdecombe made the comments after reports the EU has rejected the UK’s attempts to strike a migrant returns agreement. She told GB News: “You know you could pay through the nose and you still wouldn’t get a returns policy. “And what really does upset me is that we’re going to pay £480 million to France, we have already paid them goodness knows how many million, and they have given us absolutely nothing in return. Ann Widdecombe said France had given ‘absolutely nothing in return’ for the £480m migrant deal “Let us remember that when we had that horrible tragedy last week the boat was still in French waters and they went on escorting it towards British waters. “They’ve no interest in helping Britain and we’re on our own. And that is the first thing to face and give up expecting cooperation from France. Very nice if it comes, but don’t expect it.” The ex-Brexit Party MEP said the UK needs to discourage migrants from making the dangerous journey across the Channel. She said: “You’ve got to deter people from coming here. At the moment they think that if they come to Britain, the chances are very minimal that they’ll ever be removed because we don’t practice routine detention, we don’t have national identity cards. Rishi Sunak agreed the migrant deal with French President Emmanuel Macron in March Trending SUBSCRIBE Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info “We do have a flourishing underground economy and it’s one of the easiest places in the West, if not the easiest, in which to disappear. “Now that is the pull factor that is going on. That is why people who are in a perfectly safe country like France are still trying to get here because they know they can stay here and they probably wouldn’t be able to stay in France. So we’ve got to reverse that message. “Rwanda will help but Rwanda is a long way from fruition. And in between that we’ve got to do what I’ve been calling for for 20 years, which is automatic detention of every single new asylum seeker in a secure reception centre. “Not a centre they can just go out wander around the town from, a secure reception centre. More than 100,000 have arrived in the UK via the illegal route since records began in 2018