Growing gulf between Europe's political elite and ordinary voters

Migrants wading through the sea in an attempt to board an inflatable dinghy leaving the coast of northern France to cross the English Channel to reach Britain on Aug 25. The writer says that what appears to infuriate a growing number of Britons is the feeling that their government is not in control of its borders, and that whatever it does or promises to do, nothing changes, as immigrants continue to pour in.

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FROM B1 the anti-migrant protesters are fuelled not simply by the rising number of boat arrivals but also by the sense that politicians are treating them far better than locals.

Ordinary Britons have to spend years on waiting lists before they can get access to social housing, while migrants get hotels at taxpayers' expense. Educational statistics indicate that the worst-performing children in British schools are from white working-class families. Yet while all schools operate special help programmes for various ethnic minorities, not one has any specific programme for white under-performing children.