Calais Wall ‘Grotesque’, Says Plaid

Responding to the announcement that a UK-funded wall will be built near the Calais refugee camp, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader and Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Hywel Williams MP, said:

“For the UK to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Calais by building a wall is grotesque. There are human beings suffering in unbearable conditions on the camp and instead of helping them, Westminster’s solution is to hide the situation behind a wall.

“The UK is neglecting its duty to help those in need – in particular the hundreds of children still living on the camp who have a legal right to join their families in the UK. The UK Government must work with the French government to develop a comprehensive plan to improve the atrocious conditions on the Calais camp and find a long-term solution to this humanitarian crisis on our doorstep.

“The Tories seem to be using Brexit as an excuse to neglect their responsibilities to help refugees, adopting abhorrent and inhumane policies to ignore the worsening situation, instead of working with our European neighbours to find solutions.

“The UK Government must urgently reconsider their approach to this crisis and divert the millions of pounds allocated to this wall to helping those in desperate need of refuge.”