Why do migrants leave France and try to cross the English Channel?

Efforts are under way to identify 27 people who drowned crossing the English Channel.

Their deaths have raised questions about why so many people are attempting the journey despite the dangerous conditions.

Why do migrants cross the Channel in boats?

For years, people smugglers have sent people to the UK in lorries. There have also been tragedies on these routes, including the 39 Vietnamese people found dead in a refrigerated lorry in 2019.

But security at the Port of Calais in France – where UK border controls are – has been tightened.

This means more attempts are being made to send people by boat, according to Tony Smith, former director general of UK Border Force.

He says Covid has also had a role, as fewer lorries have been travelling to the UK: “Human smugglers have changed their tactics and they’ve now taken to this relatively new phenomenon of putting people into small boats and bringing them across in that way.”

• What happens to migrants crossing the Channel to the UK?
• Channel deaths: What do we know so far?

Why do migrants leave France for the UK?

In the few studies that exist, family ties have been identified as the main reason migrants wish to travel from France to the UK.

In a survey of 402 people at the former Calais “Jungle” camp, researchers from the International Health journal found only 12% wanted to remain in France, while 82% planned to go to England.

Of those that wanted to travel to England more than half (52%), said they already had a family member there.

“They have a connection to the UK, they speak some English, they have family, they have friends and people in their networks. They want to come and stay and rebuild their lives,” says Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council.

Do migrants travel for jobs and money?

It has been suggested the UK’s jobs market often attracts migrants – a claim supported by the French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. There aren’t reliable surveys to support this though.

Marley Morris, an immigration expert at the IPPR think tank says the UK has introduced policies that make it much harder to work illegally.

“These arguments were put forward 20 years ago, when people said the UK system was too generous. The UK responded by tightening up the rules.

“While we don’t have ID cards, the policies introduced make it much harder to work illegally, [and] employers are fined for employing someone for not having the right to work.”

As well as language and family ties, some Calais-based migrants told the BBC they wanted to come to the UK due to historic links with their own country.

Some also expressed unhappiness at the way they are being treated in France, which can lead to more people attempting to make the crossing according to Rob McNeil, deputy director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University.

“Imagine you are being poorly treated in the country you are in. Your presumption is that the immediate environment is unpleasant and you want to get away from that”, he says.

IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIA

Image caption,

Border Force officers escort a group of men on to a waiting bus

It’s unlikely that migrants choose to come to the UK because they feel they have less chance of being sent back compared to other European countries adds Mr McNeil.

“One thing we know is that the data suggests that people travelling to any country have very little knowledge of the laws and practices of enforcing immigration,” he says.

Despite the dangers, some say they have already taken significant risks to get as far as Calais and are willing to take further ones to get to the UK. For example, the International Health journal study also found that two-thirds of people had experienced at least one act of violence during their journey or in Calais.

How many migrants travel to the UK?

Many migrants already choose to make an asylum claim in the first country they arrive in – such as Greece, Turkey or Italy – and only a minority choose to travel on to the UK.

Last year, Germany had the highest number of asylum applicants in the EU (122,015 applicants), while France had 93,475 applicants.

In the same period the UK received the 5th largest number of applicants (36,041) when compared with countries in the EU (around 7% of the total). This represents the 17th largest intake when measured per head of population, according to UN Refugee Agency.

• Highest UK asylum claims since 2004

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From Madina to the Universe: M.Anifest

M.Anifest has to be one of Africa’s coolest cats. Unfailingly stylish in an alternative, artistic kind of way, the Ghanaian rapper also has a poet’s way with words.

In songs like Invisible, No Shortcut to Heaven and Someway Bi he paints gritty word pictures about life on the street in Accra, Ghana. His bars are rich in observed detail, and wry in commentary.

He’s been in the game for a while, and he has always ploughed his own furrow, nodding to the explosion of talent and the dominant genres around him, but ultimately doing his own thing.

Madina to the Universe is M.Anifest’s latest album, just dropped on 18 November. It features Vic Mensa, Adekunle Gold, Patoranking, Ladipoe, M3nsa, Tiggs da Author, Moliy, and M.Anifest’s Mum!

The title refers to the neighbourhood in Accra where he grew up and where his mother and grandmother still live.

“It’s very highly populated, mainly low-income people, with some middle-class people like myself who grew up there. It’s a beautiful collage of people, there’s a lot of Muslims, a lot of Ewe, northerners…it’s a very lively neighbourhood and it epitomises what a typical urban neighourhood in Ghana looks like.

“So Madina to the Universe is saying a person from this neighbourhood has grander ambitions, to take their ideas, thoughts and represent and take it to the Universe.”

The first single M.Anifest chose to release ahead of the album was the sultry love song, La Vida:

“La Vida is a song where I imagine myself driving in a droptop with a lover, doing wild and free things… it just had a really fresh feeling, it felt progressive, it felt like a sound that was not like everything going on, so I wanted it to set the tone of what this album is going to be about.

“This album is going to help people understand that it is ok to do something different. I’ve always represented that – M.Anifest is not coming to continue with whatever trends are here, I’m coming to bring something fresh into the ecosystem.”

Perhaps the song which demonstrates M.Anifest’s originality best is Weeping Clouds. Inspired by an unspecified loss he has suffered, the sadness of the words is in direct contrast to the rousing arrangement:

“When you look at highlife music for instance, when they would talk about difficult things, whether it’s the dead or a lover doing them wrong, the music would still have something people could jam to.

“So in this song you hear the horns that people are going to be doing call and response to, so it’s very celebratory. It’s not because people don’t feel the pain, but that’s how you exorcise it, it’s catharsis.

“I really love that song because it feels experimental, it doesn’t have a traditional structure, I don’t do any verses, the horns do all the verses for me.”

You can hear DJ Edu’s conversation with M.Anifest on This is Africa this Saturday, on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa, as well as online here: BBCworldservice.com/thisisafrica

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Storm Arwen: Police issue eastern Scotland travel warning

 Police have warned people not to travel in areas covered by a Met Office red wind warning following a forecast for 90mph winds.

Coastal areas of Angus, Fife, Aberdeenshire, East Lothian and the Scottish Borders, along with Aberdeen and Dundee, are covered by the alert.

The Met Office’s highest level warning extends down to Middlesbrough in north east England.

It is in place from Friday 15:00 until 02:00 on Saturday.

Supt Simon Bradshaw said: “The high winds being experienced along the coastal areas of the north, east and southern parts of Scotland have led to red weather warnings coming into effect and as such, any motorist within these affected regions should not travel under any circumstances.”

Following a meeting of the Scottish government’s Resilience Room (SGoRR), First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in a tweet that the “conditions pose a potential risk to life”.

Transport minister Graeme Dey said people should be prepared for possible travel disruption widely across Scotland.

• Red wind warning issued for parts of UK
• Travel is disrupted as Storm Arwen strikes NI

A Met Office amber warning for gales and a yellow alert for high winds and snow have also been issued for other parts of the country.

Red warnings mean there could be danger to life, damage to property, travel and power disruption, and dangerous seas.

The Met Office said: “A spell of exceptionally strong northerly winds will affect eastern coastal districts of Scotland from later this afternoon moving south into south-east Scotland and north-east England this evening.

“Gusts of 80-90 mph are likely and these will generate some very large waves.”

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the red weather warning was “rare”.

“People in these affected areas should not travel under any circumstances, including motorists,” he said. “Yellow and amber weather warnings also remain in place for a number of areas and people should continue to exercise extreme caution and plan any necessary journeys in advance as there is disruption to transport services.

“The Scottish government is in close contact with local authorities and the emergency services to ensure people in the affected areas receive the latest information, advice and support where needed.”

Red wind warning for Storm Arwen

A Met Office amber weather warning for winds gusting to 75mph along coastal areas of eastern Scotland is in place until 09:00 Saturday.

In addition, yellow weather warnings for high winds are in place through to Saturday evening, with gusts of 55 to 65mph forecast for coastal areas.

Arwen is the first of the Met Office’s latest list of named storms this winter.

Temperatures will drop across the UK over the weekend as cold air is drawn in from the north, with high winds exacerbating the temperatures, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

Agostinho Sousa, UKHSA public health medicine consultant, said: “Cold weather can have a serious impact on health, particularly for older people and those with heart and lung problems, as it increases the risks of heart attacks, strokes and chest infections.

“It’s really important to keep checking on older neighbours or relatives, especially those living alone or those who have serious illness.”

Transport Scotland said there was potential for disruption to road travel, particularly to bridges.

It said restrictions on bridges could affect the large number of high-sided vehicles expected to be on the trunk road network for the Black Friday shopping sales.

The A1 has been closed to high-sided vehicles, and a 10-mile (16km) stretch has been closed in both directions between Thistly Cross roundabout and Abbotsview Junction due to high winds.

Trunk roads company Bear Scotland said wind speeds of up to 84mph (135km/h) were forecast at the bridge over the River Tyne near East Linton.

A diversion route is in place via the A199. This is expected to add approximately 10 minutes to affected journeys, says Bear Scotland.

Rail disruption

Network Rail Scotland said train speeds had been reduced between Edinburgh and the border until Saturday and from Dingwall to Wick and along the Inverness to Aberdeen line until the end of Friday.

The network operator warned that high winds of up to 100mph (160km/h) risked overhead power lines swaying and getting tangled on train equipment, causing damage and delays.

Strong winds could also blow debris and trees on to railway lines.

East coast route director Sarah Reid said staff were “doing all we can to keep services moving where possible and it is safe to do so”.

London North Eastern Railway, which operates trains between London and Aberdeen, urged people not to travel until Monday because their services were severely disrupted.

All trains north of Newcastle have been cancelled but replacement buses between Newcastle and Edinburgh will not operate because of the A1 road closure.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

Ferry operator CalMac has warned of disruption across its network, and has already cancelled some sailings.

Services disrupted include Oban to Castlebay on Barra and Ullapool to Stornoway.

NorthLink Ferries has also warned of disruption to its Northern Isles services, and the bad weather has affected Loganair flights to and from Shetland.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency said coastal areas were expected to see the worst of the windy weather.

It has issued flood alerts for Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen, Dundee and Angus, Edinburgh and Lothians, Fife, parts of Moray and the Scottish Borders.

IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIA

Image caption,

The Beast from the East storm of 2018 was the last time red warning for wind was issued by the Met Office

The HM Coastguard issued a warning about dangerous seas and told people not to put themselves at risk by taking pictures on the coastline.

“A dramatic photograph or selfie is not worth risking your life for,” it said.

Aberdeenshire Council said the snow gates at the Lecht on the A939 Cockbridge to Tomintoul road would be closed from 13:00 due to difficult driving conditions.

Bad weather has already closed more than a dozen schools in the Highland Council area. Moray Council said Tomintoul Primary closed early due to a forecast of high winds and blizzards.

Wick High School was shut due to damage caused by high winds and will be closed along with the primary school and other facilities on Wick Community Campus until Tuesday.

All schools in Orkney closed at lunchtime.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

A Met Office yellow warning for snow runs from 14:00 to midnight and snow could accumulate to as much as 8cm (3in) above 300m (984ft) in upland areas of the Highlands, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Perth and Kinross and Angus.

The Mountain Weather Information Service has forecast “massive snowfall” for the Cairngorms overnight Friday and into Saturday, and the risk of wind-blown snow causing whiteout conditions.

In addition, on Friday in the Cairngorms and south eastern Highlands, the service has warned of gusts of 100 to 120 mph in hurricane force winds.

The most recent red weather warning in the UK was in February 2020 for heavy rain in South Wales associated with Storm Dennis.

The last red warning in Scotland was in March 2018 during the storm which was dubbed the Beast from the East. It was a combined wind and snow warning which also covered parts of south west England and South Wales.

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