MAIL ON SUNDAY COMMENT: There is a way to protect our border - but there's no will
It has been worth several divisions of soldiers. Yet quite suddenly it has become an open door, through which thousands come bustling each year. Politicians promise to stop this, and do not.
Published: 00:04 GMT, 28 December 2025 | Updated: 00:30 GMT, 28 December 2025
Why is it so hard to enforce one of the most defensible, well-defined frontiers in the world? Our border has been, for centuries, the strength and stay of our safety. Enemies feared to risk it and some met with terrible fates when they tried.
Swimming across the English Channel has always been regarded as a major athletic feat, and it is a perilous sea voyage, thanks partly to the unceasing ship traffic which passes through it.
It has been worth several divisions of soldiers. Yet quite suddenly it has become an open door, through which thousands come bustling each year. Politicians promise to stop this, and do not.
Perhaps (and this is worth bearing in mind) they do not mean what they say. Perhaps they are bereft of ideas. But the change has not come about because the sea has grown any shallower or smoother, though it may have something to do with the cheapness and reliability of the modern rubber dinghy.
It has come about partly because a series of wars has created the largest wave of migration in modern history, rushing towards Western Europe from Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It is partly because our readiness to enforce our once-splendid isolation has shrivelled away. This is mainly thanks to the Left's view – normally carefully hidden – that mass migration will help to make radical change irreversible.
It surely has to be possible, by simple resolve and firmness, to do better at guarding our nation's front entrance than we do. Yes, there are dangers in doing so. But there are also dangers in not doing so.
When migrants die trying to cross the Channel, it is at least partly the fault of the French and British states for failing to be tougher. If the crossing were harder, fewer would attempt it.
This is why the attitude of French police, which The Mail on Sunday exclusively reveals today, is so exasperating.
A Border Force vessel delivers migrants to Dover port after intercepting a small boat crossing on December 17 (file photo)
View of the English channel and the Port of Dover, England (file photo)
The French state is, when it chooses, rather ruthless. During the 'Yellow Vest' unrest of 2018 and 2019, an estimated 2,500 protesters were injured. Fatal shootings by French police are far more common than in Britain.
Prosecutions of officers in such cases are, as it happens, rare. Yet fear of police prosecutions is said to be so great that officers are unwilling to act against illegal migrant boats. Might these objections diminish if the French state were more interested in stopping the flow?