Our little island cannot accommodate all the migrants who want to come here, says Mirror columnist Carole Malone.

I heard some right-on vicar on this week’s ­Question Time saying his response to the millions queuing up in North Africa to get into Britain and to the 3,000 already in Calais would be: “Welcome”.

But then he’s a vicar with a big heart but absolutely no idea how to pay for or execute such a plan.

And that’s the trouble with some liberals – they talk a good humanitarian game.

Wherever there is hardship in the world they say bring the victims here and we’ll take care of them.

But who is this imaginary “we”, this God-like entity of wealth and goodness that can take care of the world’s poor?

Of course, there is no “we” here. There’s just the British taxpayer.

Yes, watching those terrible scenes in Calais has been distressing, but we have to ask why the thousands of (mostly) economic migrants currently flooding there – the number has gone up 20-fold in the last year – don’t want to stay in France and are willing to hang off the undercarriages of lorries to get here.

Simple – it’s because France is tougher on illegals than we are.

We hand out food, shelter, money and medical care. France doesn’t. Which is why they don’t want to stay there.

And why are we still being sold the lie that everyone arriving here illegally is the direct result of our invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq and our interference in the bombing of Libya?

People trying to get into Britain illegally via Calais has been happening since 1999. And most of those people are NOT refugees fleeing persecution.

Yes, it’s upsetting to see people risking life and limb to get here because they want a better life.

But there are millions all over the world who yearn for better lives and this little island cannot ­accommodate them all.

Not when we’re cutting the benefits of people here. Not when people here don’t have enough money for food.

Not when the NHS is at breaking point and when there is a housing shortage.

 

Yes, we have a moral duty to protect and shelter victims of persecution. But most of the people coming here from Calais aren’t victims of ­persecution.

They’re young men who just want a better life – a fact confirmed this week by European Council President, Donald Tusk.

The stark and upsetting reality is that while Britain does have a responsibility to help political refugees it’s not our responsibility to give people all over the world better lives at the expense of those who already live here.

We simply cannot afford it.

Trouble is, for many people in poor countries Britain looks like the land of milk and honey.

And currently it is. We turn no-one away once they get here and last year only 750 illegals were deported.

It is the people facilitating this trade in human horror who must be stopped. People trafficking is now a multi-million pound industry and it’s these criminals Europe needs to target.

Because they aren’t just stealing the life savings of desperate people, they are paying motorists and lorry drivers thousands of pounds to bring migrants across the channel.

It must be made clear to these people that neither Britain nor Europe is a place they can do business. Australia managed to stop them – why can’t we?

It’s also become clear that a Europe without borders isn’t working.

Andy Burnham is right when he says they should be reinstated because the uncontrolled movement of great masses of people is cruel, chaotic and is helping no-one.

So Europe needs to bring back its borders, it needs to get all member states to apply the same rules to migrants so no one country bears the biggest burden, and it needs to use some of the £12billion it allocates for foreign aid to deal with problems of these wretched people.

Last year more than 100 Britons were jailed in France for people smuggling, which is why the numbers entering Britain illegally are now the highest since records began.

And they will continue to grow as long as the criminals exploit the chaos in North Africa.

I’m proud of this country’s humanitarian record but it is being abused by traffickers who don’t differentiate between political refugees and economic ones.

And, the cruel truth is WE must.