Editorial: With lives at stake, British prime minister Rishi Sunak cannot slam the door on EU amid migration crisis

This was necessary to accelerate the return of people seeking asylum arriving here from the UK through the North. The High Court ruled last month that the designation of the UK as a “safe” third country did not comply with EU law.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee recognised that the hasty change is not a panacea.

After plenty of frenetic activity, we have streamlined a system to return migrants to the UK, which British prime minister Rishi Sunak refuses to accept.

So it is not a panacea – it might better be described as a mess.

The Government insists it is simply reinstating an agreement it had with London since 2020 that allows people to be returned and was underpinned by the Common Travel Area.

However, Mr Sunak was very specific in saying that no deal can be done until there are moves by the EU to allow Britain to return migrants to France.

According to US scholar HL Mencken, “the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins”.

This is never more true than when a government is facing an election, as will soon be the case in London and possibly also in Dublin.

There is disagreement over the percentage of migrants coming here through the North. Whether it is 80pc or not is a moot point. At current levels, 20,000 will have crossed into the Republic by the end of the year.

Neither government in Dublin nor London can afford to engage in gunboat diplomacy. They say the most important thing in communication is hearing what is not said. In this case, it is that the issue of migration cannot be managed without co-operation on all sides.

For all the grinding of teeth and thumping of tables in Downing Street, Mr Sunak cannot slam the door on the EU, no matter how many “likes” he may get from full-blooded Tories.

Brussels, London and Dublin need to work on this together. No matter how much the Conservatives would like to ignore it, the fact is the UK needs the single market.

The bloc of 27 countries on its doorstep cannot be dismissed without incurring serious self-inflicted economic harm.

It is said there is no gambling like politics, but this is no frivolous exercise. Political parties need to step back and take their thumbs off the scales.

Numbers are being thrown about, but the fate of human beings is in the balance.

An effective EU-UK plan is needed for saving lives, not saving face.