• NO one would deny that the numbers of people dying trying to cross the Channel is a disgrace.

However, despite this, it is disappointing that both major political parties including Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party insist on using it as an opportunity to show its bravado and hard line on immigration.

Talk from Conservatives of “cracking down on illegal migration” is matched by Starmer’s talk of “cracking down on the gangs”.

We need to see the Labour Party take a more compassionate stance on this issue. They need to stop talking about illegal immigration and criminal gangs, rather the poverty, war and discrimination that people who make this crossing are escaping from.

Reshape the discussion to ameliorating global poverty and conflict, through basing their language and policy in discussions of international aid and development.

A simple step such as returning to spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on official development assistance, one that both the Tories and Starmer’s increasingly conservative-styled Labour Party are refusing to do, would help the issue at its cause and reshape the discussion and image of how the British public view migrants and refugees.

This is the only way to deal with this divisive issue, not further feeding into Faragesque talking points of illegal migration and criminal gangs.

LOUIS FENNER, NW5