--- title: British Foreign Minister: Migrant Situation Not Sustainable description: Philip Hammond says that the quality of European life will fall if the E.U. is forced to absorb millions of African migrants canonical: https://time.com/3990199/uk-foreign-minister-immigrants-marauding-europe-threat-living-standards/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-10T08:05:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T10:01:58.140Z article:section: World og:title: U.K. Foreign Minister: Migrant Influx Unsustainable og:description: Philip Hammond says Europe's standard of living could be threatened. og:url: https://time.com/3990199/uk-foreign-minister-immigrants-marauding-europe-threat-living-standards/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf90ebc8ef6e6ae6/69885e72f887dc744ce91c70/gettyimages-478973680.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Politicians Attend COBRA Meeting To Discuss Tunisian Terror Attack og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.K. Foreign Minister: Migrant Influx Unsustainable twitter:description: Philip Hammond says Europe's standard of living could be threatened. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf90ebc8ef6e6ae6/69885e72f887dc744ce91c70/gettyimages-478973680.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The U.K.'s Foreign Minister Says 'Marauding' Migrants Could Lower European Living Standards by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Aug 10, 2015 8:05 AM CUT  Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, walks along Downing Street on June 29, 2015, in London Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, walks along Downing Street on June 29, 2015, in LondonRob Stothard—Getty Images by [Nash Jenkins](/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Aug 10, 2015 8:05 AM CUT British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says that the quality of European life will fall if the E.U. is forced to absorb millions of African migrants. He made controversial remarks while on a trip to Singapore, the BBC [reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-33842861 "undefined"). “The gap in standards of living mean that there will always be millions of Africans with the economic motivation to try to get to Europe,” he told the BBC. “So long as the European Union’s laws are the way they are, many of them will only have to set foot in Europe to be pretty confident that they will never be returned to their country of origin. Now, that is not a sustainable situation, because Europe cannot protect itself and preserve its standard of living and social infrastructure if it has to absorb millions of migrants from Africa.” He also spoke pointedly on the [migrant camps](http://time.com/3987522/welcome-to-the-jungle/ "undefined") in the coastal French city of Calais, where the entrance to the Channel Tunnel has become a bottleneck of those who seek to enter the U.K. “So long as there are large numbers of pretty desperate migrants marauding the area, there always will be a threat to the tunnel’s security,” Hammond said. “We’ve got to resolve this problem ultimately by returning those who are not entitled to claim asylum back to their countries of origin.” Steve Symonds, director of Amnesty International’s refugee program in the U.K., described Hammond’s comments as “mean-spirited” and “shameful.” “Rather than throwing up the drawbridge and talking about how Europe can ‘protect’ itself from migrants, Mr. Hammond should be working with our E.U. partners to ensure that people don’t drown in the Mediterranean or get crushed beneath lorries at Calais,” he told the BBC. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3990199/uk-foreign-minister-immigrants-marauding-europe-threat-living-standards/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3990199/uk-foreign-minister-immigrants-marauding-europe-threat-living-standards/"},"headline":"The U.K.'s Foreign Minister Says 'Marauding' Migrants Could Lower European Living Standards","datePublished":"2015-08-10T08:05:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:01:58.140Z","description":"Philip Hammond says the current migrant influx is \"not a sustainable situation\"","url":"https://time.com/3990199/uk-foreign-minister-immigrants-marauding-europe-threat-living-standards/","keywords":["France","Africa","Immigration","Singapore","United Kingdom","Calais"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf90ebc8ef6e6ae6/69885e72f887dc744ce91c70/gettyimages-478973680.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdf90ebc8ef6e6ae6/69885e72f887dc744ce91c70/gettyimages-478973680.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Politicians Attend COBRA Meeting To Discuss Tunisian Terror Attack","caption":"Politicians Attend COBRA Meeting To Discuss Tunisian Terror Attack","creditText":"Rob Stothard—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3990199/uk-foreign-minister-immigrants-marauding-europe-threat-living-standards/","name":"The U.K.'s Foreign Minister Says 'Marauding' Migrants Could Lower European Living Standards"}}]}] ```