Rights groups and opposition criticise PM for labelling migrants a ‘swarm of people’, and UN representative says UK is not dealing responsibly with crisis

Rights groups have rounded on David Cameron, saying his description of migrants in Calais as a “swarm of people” trying to reach Britain was dehumanising.

The prime minister’s words brought into focus the emotive language used by politicians and the media about the migrants in makeshift camps in the French port town.

Speaking during a visit to Vietnam, Cameron told ITV News attempts to enter the UK had increased because “you have got a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain because Britain has got jobs, it’s got a growing economy, it’s an incredible place to live”.

He added: “But we need to protect our borders by working hand in glove with our neighbours, the French, and that is exactly what we are doing.”

A British official later denied Cameron’s words had dehumanised the migrants.

The Refugee Council was first to condemn Cameron’s language.

Refugee Council (@refugeecouncil) Awful, dehumanising language from a world leader. https://t.co/PDc8ft179K

The charity’s head of advocacy, Dr Lisa Doyle, said: “It’s extremely disappointing to hear the prime minister using such irresponsible, dehumanising language to describe the desperate men, women and children fleeing for their lives across the Mediterranean Sea.

“This sort of rhetoric is extremely inflammatory and comes at a time when the government should be focused on working with its European counterparts to respond calmly and compassionately to this dreadful humanitarian crisis.”

Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham also criticised the prime minister’s phrasing, tweeting: “Cameron calling Calais migrants a ‘swarm’ is nothing short of disgraceful. Confirms there’s no dog-whistle these Bullingdon Boys won’t blow.”



Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary and a fellow Labour leadership contender, also said the choice of words was not prime ministerial.

Yvette For Labour (@YvetteForLabour) Cameron's language not befitting a PM. Here is Yvette's ideas to solve the Calais crisis and prevent further tragedy: http://t.co/aoJAQ2sL4v

Harriet Harman, Labour’s interim leader, said the prime minister “should remember he is talking about people, not insects. I think it’s a very worrying turn that he appears to be wanting to be divisive and set people against, whip people up against, the migrants in Calais.”

The Lib Dems’ new leader, Tim Farron, joined the chorus of criticism. “By using the prime minister’s language, we lose sight of how desperate someone has to be to cling to the bottom of a lorry or train for the chance of a better life,” he said.

The Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, distanced himself from the term, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he was “not seeking to use language like that”. He said: “The prime minister is this morning trying to sound tough. Whether he actually means it or not is quite a separate question.”

However, Farage had used the word “swarm” earlier in the day on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. Describing being stuck on a motorway, he said he had been surrounded “by swarms of potential migrants to Britain and once, even, they tried the back door of the car to see whether they could get in”.

Meanwhile, Don Flynn, director of Migrants’ Rights Network, told the Guardian the crisis was being portrayed as a “psychodrama” and that the prime minister and others needed to rethink their language.

“It ignores that these are perfectly rational people, taking huge risks to do what they believe will give them a better life. They are not a pestilence,” he said. “We must return to a humanitarian basis for refugee policy. We’ve been trying to build high fences and have heavy policing for 15 years and the most it accomplishes is a short break in the cycle. People are now dying on a regular basis.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Calais migrants: Life in the ‘jungle’

It is not the first time ministers have been criticised for their language concerning refugees and migrants. The defence secretary, Michael Fallon, was forced to apologise last October for referring to “whole towns and communities being swamped by huge numbers of migrant workers”. In the same interview with Sky News, he said eastern coastal towns felt “under siege”. Fallon later accepted “he should have chosen his words better”.

Fortress Calais: fleeting fixtures and precarious lives in the migrant camp Read more

The British and French governments have pledged to bolster security around the Channel tunnel, with 120 additional French police officers deployed. On Thursday morning, the Daily Express, the Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Star issued front page calls to “send in the army” to stop further disruption.

But the home secretary, Theresa May, refused to be drawn on military involvement, saying the government’s priority was installing the new security fencing.

The UN secretary general’s special representative on migration, Peter Sutherland, said Britain was not dealing responsibly with the crisis. He told BBC2’s Victoria Derbyshire programme that the number of migrants involved was grossly inflated, and that the people in the “Jungle” camp were “a relatively small number in the context of what other countries are having to do”.

“We are talking here about between 5,000 and 10,000 people in Calais who are living in terrible conditions,” he said. “The first thing we have to do collectively is to deal with their conditions. Instead of talking about sending Gurkhas or building fences, we should be thinking of the humanitarian crisis.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest French gendarmes try to stop migrants on the Eurotunnel site in Coquelles near Calais. Photograph: Philippe Huguen/AFP/Getty Images

He dismissed proposals for more security fencing or patrols by British troops. “Anybody who thinks that by erecting borders or fences in some way a particular state can be protected from alleged ‘floods’ – which are anything but floods – of migrants is living in cloud cuckoo land,” he said.

More than 185,000 people, most fleeing violent conflict in the Middle East and north and east Africa, have entered southern Europe since January, with most attempting to claim asylum. About 3,000 are believed to currently live in the squalid Calais camps in the hope of making it to Britain.

A 26-year Sudanese man was found under a horsebox at the All England Jumping Course at Hickstead, West Sussex, on Tuesday evening. A Home Office spokesman said the man had been arrested and would remain in immigration detention until his case was processed.

Calais: man killed as migrants make 1,500 attempts to enter Eurotunnel site Read more

Leigh Daynes, executive director of Médecins du Monde, the medical charity working in the camps, told the Guardian even the implications behind the word “swarm” were inaccurate.

“Using language such as ‘swarms’ not only dehumanises migrants; it presents them as some sort of coordinated threat,” he said. “But these are ordinary people – mothers, fathers, daughters and sons – living in the most horrendous conditions that no one should have to endure. Many are highly educated, including doctors, dentists and engineers, fleeing extreme violence and poverty and simply wanting better lives for themselves, so much so they are prepared to risk their lives for it.”

The UK is more than halfway down the list of the most popular European countries for refugees claiming asylum. Germany last year received 175,000 asylum applications while Britain had 24,000.

Cameron’s “swarm” comment came as he vowed to deport more migrants who are in the UK illegally, ruling out providing them with work permits and saying he was committed to “making sure that it is less easy for illegal migrants to stay in Britain”.

“That is why we are passing legislation, we have done this very recently, to make sure you can’t get a driving licence, you can’t rent a house, you can’t take out a bank account, and we will remove more illegal migrants from our country so people know it’s not a safe haven once you’re there,” he said.