Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps the Government has taken to resolve the migration situation at Calais.

The UK Government recognises the exceptional pressures on the French Government and its citizens caused by the migrant situation in the Calais region.

In particular, the French police face a difficult challenge in dealing with the increasingly violent migrants, who are damaging property and vehicles and attacking officers around the juxtaposed ports in their attempts to reach the UK illegally.

The UK welcomes the continued efforts by the French Government to address the situation, in particular the significant commitment of additional French police officers deployed in Calais.

We also welcome the progress made by the French to move migrants away from Calais to suitable facilities in alternative sites in France, and to increase the number of migrants claiming asylum in the country.

These French efforts, combined with the additional British personnel at the ports, the priority fencing and enhancements to security infrastructure, and the work to tackle organised crime that our two countries have progressed jointly over recent months, sends a clear message: we will continue to work together to keep our borders secure; migrants should not head to Calais, and those in Calais intending to seek asylum should do so in France.