‘Got their flip flops on!’ French border guards slammed as damning investigation exposes migrant crisis shortcomings
French border police have been accused of 'having their flip flops on'
PA / GB NEWS
French border officials have been accused of “not taking the migrant crisis seriously” despite eye-watering figures being stumped up by UK taxpayers.
It comes following a damning investigation which found officials indulging in significant quantities of alcohol in bars across the city where migrants often set off from for perilous trips across the English Channel in a bid to gain asylum in Britain.
According to the Express, officials have “admitted” to letting boats sail out into the water when it was possible to stop them.
Speaking on GB News, Express reporter Zak Garner-Purkis hit out at the French police, claiming they view their brief in Calais as more of a jolly as opposed to a serious operation like they would when it comes to riots in Paris.
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“I spent time with those officers, they don’t take that posting very seriously”, he said on GB News.
“When they’re in Paris for the riots, that’s the serious work. In Calais it’s ‘get your flip flops on’.”
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Huge numbers of migrants are still coming to Britain via small boats PAGarner-Purkis said the French officers prioritise “hitting the town” as opposed to their actual brief of stopping the boats.
“These aren’t just a couple of drinks after work”, he said.
“This is like when you get in at 11:30pm. You start doing the shots.
“You’re there right through until six in the morning. It’s pretty wild.
“When I spoke to some of these guys, they’re quite open about it. They say ‘Britain’s paying for us to be here’, and they’re strolling about in their sandals.”
It comes as Downing Street stated that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expecting “rapid action” if police officers are deliberately failing to stop the crossings.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: "As the public would expect, we will look into any reports that a small minority of officers are falling short of the standards expected, on both sides.
"If there was any evidence provided of that we would of course expect rapid action.
"But in general terms we are working closely with our French counterparts, this year alone more than 15,000 migrants have been prevented from reaching the UK."
Efforts have been made to halt Channel migrant crossings, with an eye-watering £480 million set to be stumped up by UK taxpayers as a result of a three-year deal between Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron.
More than 23,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far in 2023, with more than 3,250 crossing the Channel over the last 11 days.
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