BRITAIN: Labour has described as "dangerous and daft" Mr Iain Duncan Smith's declaration that none of the 1,300 asylum-seekers from the Sangatte camp should be allowed "set foot in Britain".
In an article for yesterday's Daily Mail, the Conservative leader said a reported deal between Britain and France over the closure of the camp which could see Britain accept the asylum-seekers would have the French "laughing at us across breakfast tables all over the country". Labour denied a deal has been struck to accept the asylum-seekers in return for the camp's closure. But speaking later during a visit to the Welsh Conservative Party in Llandudno, Mr Duncan Smith said accepting any of the refugees would be a "weak move" and a disaster.
"Over the last eight months, we have said to the government that their asylum problem is one of their own making. This proposal to close Sangatte and for us to take large numbers from Sangatte is the wrong move. It is a very weak move and it is one which would make the French laugh at us," Mr Duncan Smith said. "Those in the camp should not simply be pushed across to the UK. There may be in there genuine asylum-seekers. What we want is for the French to take responsibility for those and assess them properly. This government promised it would sort the problem out and it has actually made it worse."
Condemning his comments as "extreme", the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr John Reid, said: "I'm afraid that by using the language he did and the substance of what he said Iain Duncan Smith has put himself way on the extreme. To take the position that not one of them shall set foot in Britain, and the white flag is being flown if we try to reach a reasonable position, seems to send all the signals of somebody who's trying to exploit the issue politically."
Downing Street also insisted there was little mileage in opening talks about the Sangatte camp with the interim French government ahead of next month's general election, and again insisted no deal had been agreed that would see Britain accept the refugees in return for closing the camp.
As the debate over Sangatte continued, the support group Refugee Action urged politicians on both sides of the Channel to "hold their nerve" and not allow the discussion to be hijacked by anti-immigrant sentiment.