Home Secretary Theresa May went to France today to discuss the growing transport and migrant crisis in Calais.
It came as militant trade unionists pledged to keep up their blockade of the port, and to shut the Channel Tunnel “at will”.
They have managed to bring traffic to a standstill this week, allowing hundreds of migrants to break into UK-bound lorries.
Mrs May is bracing herself for criticism from the French during her meeting with Bernard Cazeneuve, France’s interior minister, in Paris.
Many in France blame Britain’s benefits culture, and its chaotic asylum system, for attracting migrants to French ports in their bid to reach the UK. Some 3,000 would-be migrants are currently sleeping rough in Calais.
In turn, Mrs May will demand answers as to how French trade unionists break into the Channel Tunnel so easily.
On Tuesday dozens of protesters forced their way into supposedly secure zones, igniting tyres to start blazes along the railway lines.
It followed similar intrusions last week which caused thousands of pounds worth of damage and showed how easy it was for anyone, including migrants, to get into the tunnel. The strikers brought Eurostar passenger trains and Le Shuttle services, which transport freight and cars, to a halt.
Eric Vercoutre, leader of the workers taking industrial action, likened security in the undersea link to a sieve.
Today he said his colleagues would “maintain pressure on the ships, but will let boats from the company P&O enter one by one until the end of the negotiations”.
Workers from MyFerryLink are opposed to the sell-off of ferries to rival Danish firm DFDS — a move which will mean hundreds of job losses.
