Hi, I'm Anouche, I'm Alfa, and I'm Stephen.

And on today's New Statesman podcast, we discuss the people who drowned in the channel

and the implications for the UK government.

And you ask us, did the Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Louise Hague make a gaff when she

said that Labour would remain neutral on a border pole?

We're recording the morning after the horrendous news that at least 27 people trying to make

it to the UK across the channel from Calais have drowned in what is thought to be the

deadliest event in the channel since they began recording these things.

Stephen, how is the UK government reacting to it so far?

Well, the UK government's reaction is basically to go, this is so terrible, this is awful.

We're going to keep doing the same things that we've done before.

I'm shocked and appalled and deeply sad by the loss of life at sea in the channel, but

I also want to say that this disaster underscores how dangerous it is to cross the channel

in this way.

And that's why it's so important that we accelerate if we possibly can, all the measures

contained in our borders and nationalities bill so that we distinguish between people

who come here legally and people who come here illegally.

Because essentially, the British government responds and the French government responds

because you kind of do have to, I think, understand the two of them together.

He's essentially, the more enforcement, you know, enforce more and the problem goes

away.

Right, you know, so the French, the response guy, my more beach patrols, you know, more

...