The French government is demanding £30m from the British government to keep illegal immigrants in France, in France.

French border authorities routinely escort illegal immigrants across the Channel to English waters where UK Border Force pick them up and ferry them to England. Fishing vessels helping Nigel Farage video the exchanges have been threatened with sanctions and French patrol ships have taken to turning off their transponders so the taxi service can’t be tracked.

The British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, is responsible for the security of England’s borders. She has been talking tough on immigration for some time but has done very little until this week, formally asking the Royal Navy to assist in Channel.

I’m not entirely opposed to the idea of paying the French £30m to patrol the Channel with a couple of conditions. Firstly, we get to fine the French £5k for every illegal immigrant that makes it to England. Secondly, any illegal immigrant that makes it to England is immediately returned to France. At the current rate of illegal immigration we would recoup the £30m in under 3 months.