Here is this morning's Sun splash. It's about a European Court ruling that France was wrong to imprison a woman with a false passport who was stopped at the Channel Tunnel. She was on a coach that had come from Belgium.
The court ruled that people stopped travelling within the continent should be left free while deportation proceedings go through. The Sun has found a minister who sees this as "opening the floodgates to illegals" - and so providing the sub-head with its implied "to Britain".
Apart from quoting the minister, The Sun carefully refrains from putting UK on the front.
That's because the ruling does not apply to us, since we are not part of the passport-free Schengen area - as the Sun concedes in the final paragraph of the turn. Our authorities have every right to arrest and detain suspected illegal immigrants.
The judgment may seem daft. Yes, it would be more convenient for Britain if other countries stopped unwanted visitors en route (which, of course, the French did. Even if she hadn't been detained, she would not have been allowed to continue her journey), But the ruling was made in relation to a law that does not cover Britain. It may have an impact on us, but it is not one we are in a position to change - and certainly would never be in a position to change if we left the EU.
So, although this story appears to have been reported accurately, in this fevered anti-migration, anti-EU atmosphere, it comes across as dishonest propaganda.
The court ruled that people stopped travelling within the continent should be left free while deportation proceedings go through. The Sun has found a minister who sees this as "opening the floodgates to illegals" - and so providing the sub-head with its implied "to Britain".
Apart from quoting the minister, The Sun carefully refrains from putting UK on the front.
That's because the ruling does not apply to us, since we are not part of the passport-free Schengen area - as the Sun concedes in the final paragraph of the turn. Our authorities have every right to arrest and detain suspected illegal immigrants.
The judgment may seem daft. Yes, it would be more convenient for Britain if other countries stopped unwanted visitors en route (which, of course, the French did. Even if she hadn't been detained, she would not have been allowed to continue her journey), But the ruling was made in relation to a law that does not cover Britain. It may have an impact on us, but it is not one we are in a position to change - and certainly would never be in a position to change if we left the EU.
So, although this story appears to have been reported accurately, in this fevered anti-migration, anti-EU atmosphere, it comes across as dishonest propaganda.
RSS Feed
