Macron Bashed for 'Throwing Toys Out of Pram' as Patel Uninvited to EU Talks on Channel Crossings

© AP Photo / Gareth FullerA British Border Force vessel carries a group of men thought to be migrants into Dover harbour, Southern England, Tuesday Aug. 4, 2020
A British Border Force vessel carries a group of men thought to be migrants into Dover harbour, Southern England, Tuesday Aug. 4, 2020 - Sputnik International, 1920, 28.11.2021
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Small boat arrivals in the UK this year are already triple the figure for 2020, when 8,417 people crossed the English Channel.
Former UK Home Office Special Adviser Claire Pearsall has hit out at French President Emmanuel Macron over Paris' decision to exclude Home Secretary Priti Patel from the EU talks on the migration crisis.
Speaking to Britain's LBC, Pearsall described the move as "throwing toys out of the pram on a very large scale".
Waleed (3L), 29, a Kuwaiti migrant, stands with other migrants onboard the DHB Dauntless tug boat as they are brought to shore by the UK Border Force after illegally crossing the English Channel from France on a dinghy on September 11, 2020, in the marina at Dover, on the south coast of England - Sputnik International, 1920, 25.11.2021
Johnson Proposes to Have All Migrants Who Cross Channel to Be Immediately Returned to France

"There is a problem, it is bigger than a Franco-English argument that has occurred. We need to be part of the solution. You need to look at a Europe-wide problem, and we're not in the European Union anymore but we're still in Europe", she added referring to the issue of the Channel crossings.

EU ministers are sitting down in the French town of Calais to discuss ways to stop the ever-increasing migrant boat arrivals in the UK.
The meeting, which is being attended by representatives of France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the European Commission, was called following the events of 24 November, when 27 people died after an inflatable dinghy with migrants capsized off Calais in the English Channel.
Patel's exclusion from the Calais talks came after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's open letter to Macron, in which BoJo proposed a bilateral readmission agreement that would allow illegal migrants who cross the Channel to be returned to France.
Pearsall's remarks follow several UK government officials reportedly reproaching the home secretary for "doing nothing for two years" to prevent the migrant Channel crossings.
The British media cited unnamed No 10 sources as saying that Patel was privately slammed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson for failing to "get a grip" on the issue, and that BoJo was joined by other ministers at a Saturday government meeting following the Calais drowning tragedy.

"Boris is fuming over this. He's heard a lot of talk about fixing this problem but two years on it's even worse", one of the sources claimed, adding, "she [Patel] is happy to bask in the limelight when things are going well, but seems to go missing when it goes wrong".

Patel's allies were quick to respond by reportedly arguing that "It's no surprise we're in this mess", given that "Priti has been fighting a lone battle while departments across Whitehall have sat on their hands for two years".
Earlier this month, about 1,185 migrants crossed the Channel into the UK, in what was the highest number ever recorded in a single day. In total this year, there have been at least 25,700 crossings, almost three times more than the figure for all of 2020.
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