In this respect, it’s Beaune’s moralising on “humane” labour market regulation that grates most. For one thing is clear: those stringent French employment checks he demands in Britain are part of a broader system of costly labour market regulation that kills employment opportunities, not just for those who ultimately become legal migrants or refugees, but young French workers too. 

A 2014 Migration Policy Institute study concluded that “France’s labour market can be hostile to new entrants, whether recently arrived immigrants or young people seeking their first job.” The country restricts foreign nationals from working in the public sector, fails to recognise many foreign qualifications, and implements onerous occupational licensing requirements for many positions. 

Costly hiring and firing laws reduce job market dynamism, while regulations that kick in when firms exceed 50 workers deter businesses from scaling up. The result is high unemployment, particularly for those on the margins of the workforce, such as migrants, the young and unskilled. 

Before the pandemic, the French unemployment rate among the foreign-born labour force was a high 13.1pc against just 4.3pc in the UK. The employment rate was lower too: 58.9pc in France compared with a much higher 74.7pc here. These same rules and regulations crush opportunities for the young- youth unemployment was 20 percent in France, almost double the 11.1pc in Britain.

The human costs of such high unemployment are huge, contributing to intergenerational difficulties for children of migrants. Previous research has shown that second-generation immigrants in France are severely disadvantaged in the labour market, with descendants of immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and Turkey discriminated against most. 

One would think, given all this, that senior French politicians would be more circumspect about damning other “economic models” or talking up the humanity of their labour laws. But there has always been a peculiar French snobbery towards a liberal jobs market that doesn’t incorporate ID cards or a host of protective entry restrictions. Using deaths in the Channel to express it just seems tone-deaf to the moment.

None of this is to downplay the current Channel crossings crisis, which has many causes, including displacement following clampdowns on other crossing methods, such as in lorries. The attempted journeys are a difficult problem to solve without overhauling the whole immigration system in ways that could lead to a politically challenging surge in applications.

But for the French government to imply these issues reflect a deliberate policy of fostering illegal work in the UK is contemptible. And given their overall effects, if asked to choose between France’s “humane” labour laws and ours, I’d opt for the UK’s every time.