Tragedy in Channel should focus minds

THE dreadful news that 27 people had drowned trying to cross the Channel last week was as shocking as it was tragic.

But, as has been noted, it was not a surprise. Cramming desperate people onto overcrowded and flimsy craft, and attempting to evade border control by crossing one of the most congested shipping lanes in the world, is fraught with danger.

The politics of immigration is as heated in France as it is in the UK. But this tragedy should remind Ministers on both sides that there is much more merit in working together to stop trafficking gangs than there is in any sort of finger-pointing. Time to put differences aside and work on common solutions.