Britain and France scramble as Channel becomes choke point in migration crisis

"What we are seeing is the result of the European Union not being able to handle the migration crisis in the way that they should," said Camino Mortera-Martinez, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform.

"Everyone is blaming each other for not handling the crisis properly," she said. "The Italians and Greeks are blaming everyone else for not helping them. France is blaming Italy for giving documents to asylum seekers, without checking them properly, so they can move on."