Inside the migrant boat crisis – why people want to come to the UK, where they come from and what benefits they REALY get here

Mirror

At least 27 people headed for the UK drowned yesterday in the ­English Channel near Calais after the boat carrying them sank.

Here we look at how the migrant crisis has developed…

Why do migrants want to come to the UK?

Many are fleeing danger and persecution in their own countries.

Anti-immigration campaigners always claim they come here, rather than stay in France, for our benefits.

But the reality is they get less benefits in the UK than in France, £39.63 a week compared to £43.50 per week.

In France they can try to get a job after six months, unlike the UK.

But black market jobs are much more readily available in the UK for illegal migrants at places such as shops, car washes and nail bars.

Other major pull factors are having family members already in the UK and being able to speak the English language.

Migrants also know they cannot be sent back to France or another safe country. Since Brexit, the Dublin ­regulation, which allowed the UK to return a migrant to their first country of entry into the EU, no longer applies.