Readers have their say on whether small boat migrants should be given hijabs

As new figures reveal that British taxpayers have paid for more than 1,000 free hijabs for small boat migrants so far this year, we are looking for your opinions on the issue in the poll below. The Home Office has insisted it has a legal duty to provide the headwear, worn by Muslim women and girls. However, parties like Reform UK and the Conservatives have hit out at the development.

As the crisis continues to steal headlines, Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp called on the Government to “immediately” stop handing out hijabs to migrants crossing the Channel on dinghies. He told The Mail on Sunday: “It’s an insult to hard-working British taxpayers that they’re funding religious items for people who have broken into our country.

“It should not be for us to fund someone else’s religious practices. Many illegal immigrants actually hate our values.

“Many come here for free accommodation and a life on benefits at our expense. Illegal immigrants crossing the channel are breaking into our country.

“They have no legitimate reason to flee France, which is clearly safe. That’s why we must leave the European Convention on Human Rights so we can deport all illegal immigrants immediately upon arrival.”

Share your thoughts on the issue in the poll below.

More than 19,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year. However, that is down 42% compared to the same point last year.

This week, it was confirmed that the “one in, one out” migrant deal with France has been scrapped. The Home Office said the pilot scheme is “no longer processing new cases”, after France reportedly demanded a Europe-wide deal instead.

People who arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel could be detained and returned to France in exchange for an equivalent number of asylum seekers who applied through a safe and legal route under the scheme, which was a flagship policy under Sir Keir Starmer, who left Number 10 in July.