Graphic images of hundreds of migrants attempting to climb onto trucks making their way on the motorway into Calais to join trains through the Channel Tunnel to Dover have brought home to the British public the pressures from refugees wanting to come to Britain.
This humanitarian crisis is the result of conflicts, oppression and bad government in the Middle East and Africa. Over 3,000 migrants are reported to be in two "jungle camps" on the beach near Calais where living conditions are appalling.
The channel, although not an impregnable barrier, is a significant obstacle. Britain also has an opt-out from taking in any of the migrants into the European Union. Nevertheless net immigration into Britain continues to rise (by more than 171,000 last year) and Britain now has a population of some 65 million.