European Affairs

My hon. Friend is a frequent visitor to debates on these issues. I think he has participated in almost all the European affairs debates over the past 10 years or so; he has certainly participated in the more recent ones. I do not favour a federal Europe, and nor do the Government. We must have a Europe of nation states. Where there is a method of co-operating beyond the strict rules, we should adopt it. One example is the justice and home affairs agenda. We can opt in or opt out when we wish to do so, and we can ensure that we work with European partners to deal with immigration issues. I have mentioned my visit to the "jungle camp" in Calais with members of the Select Committee on Home Affairs. We went to the camp a week before the French moved in and broke it up; I do not know whether that had anything to do with the Committee's visit. We met a large number of young men between the ages of 15 and 40 who had travelled to Calais all the way from Afghanistan and Iraq. They had passed through Austria and Romania, some had been to Spain and some had gone through Germany, but they had all ended up at the tip of the continent, and all that they wanted to do was come to London and live in the United Kingdom. No matter what they were offered, that was what they wanted to do. They formed themselves into a "jungle camp" and refused all the offers from the French to allow them to seek asylum, because they wanted to cross the channel and come to the United Kingdom. I kept saying to those young men "But you have come all the way from Afghanistan and Iraq. Surely there is some other European country where you might like to stop in order to claim asylum." If there is an area in which we need better co-operation, it is the justice and home affairs agenda and immigration in particular. Our European partners are simply not abiding by their responsibilities and obligations. When people pass through their countries, they should deal with the problem.