The EU’s walls have crumbled – how long before some of this influx hits the UK?
The disaster in Spanish North Africa explained, with its implications for the UK
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2026
Ceuta’s youth unemployment is the highest in the EU, so they won’t stay there
The tens of thousands of illegal migrants who flooded across the border from the North African country of Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta will come as no surprise to regular readers. The Spanish simply don't know how many are now left.
The think-tank Facts4EU, in collaboration with Stand for Our Sovereignty (SOS) and The Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIBUK), provides further information on this disturbing event, with its ramifications for the UK. This report has been shared exclusively with GB News.
This has all taken place in the EU – which includes Ceuta
Despite being on the African continent, Ceuta is part of the territory of the European Union. It is perhaps informative of the opinion of its residents that its sole member of the Congress of Deputies (the Spanish Parliament’s lower house) is from the anti-immigration Vox party. She gained her seat in the 2019 general election.
Vox holds opposing policies to those of the ruling coalition government led by the Socialist Workers Party (PSOE), which practically has an open borders policy. This has been most recently demonstrated by its disastrous amnesty for illegal migrants. The government told the Spanish people to expect 500,000. The latest official figures show more than 1.2m have applied, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.
The majority of applicants for the amnesty are male and six out of ten (59.4%) are under 34
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2026 - click to enlarge
Given this completely lax attitude to illegal migrants, is it any wonder the EU’s borders in Spanish Ceuta were overwhelmed? The question now is that of those who remain in the EU, how many will make their way to the United Kingdom?
The Rt Hon the Lord Redwood, former Secretary of State
commented exclusively to GB News and Facts4EU
“Ceuta is one of the weak front doors into the EU for those coming from Africa and the Middle East. Facts4EU have highlighted how this door is never locked and can be pushed open by thousands of illegal migrants rallied by social media to get on the move. Once in Ceuta the migrants might find their way to Spain, take advantage of freedom of movement in the EU and soon arrive in Calais.
“The pressures of weak borders in the south of the EU are felt in the Channel when the migrants set their sights on coming to the UK. Mr Burnham contacted the Spanish PM to be reassured most of the illegal arrivals have gone back. This is far from reassuring to most of us who fear the demonstration of the weak front door will lead others to try it. The PM should stop the boats, smash the gangs, and say No to more movement of people.”
The writing has been on the (now breached) wall for years
In 2019 in the days of Theresa May as PM, when she was doing her best to water down Brexit until it was almost unrecogonisable, Facts4EU published an interesting official statistic about Ceuta for 2018.
We showed how Ceuta had the largest youth unemployment at regional level in the EU, at 66.1%, followed by Melilla which is the other Spanish ‘self-governing territory’ on the continent of Africa. Two-thirds of Ceuta’s young people were unemployed at that time.
Chart from 2018
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2026 - click to enlarge
Today, Ceuta is still the most disadvantaged place in the EU for young people
Since then, money has been spent and the official rate has fallen, but the ranking has not.
Both before and after 2018 the picture has remained the same, with Ceuta placed at No.1 in the rankings for the worst youth unemployment in the whole of the EU. The EU Commission makes it very hard to find these figures, but year after year Facts4EU has tracked this. It has been the same story, uncomfortable as this may be for the Commission. Below are the figures from last year (2025).
The simple fact is that no young migrant will want to stay in Ceuta.
Latest official EU data for regional youth unemployment
Ceuta occupies first place, as the worst region in the EU yet again
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2026 - click to enlarge
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EU’s lumbering response to Spain’s walls being breached
Following the EU’s mass illegal migration crisis of 2015-6, caused by Angela Merkel, the EU put in place a series of measures to deal with emergency situations in a member state. These are involved, lengthy, and require all manner of drawn-out approvals from the other member countries.
In addition there is a fast-track procedure which can only be invoked in certain extreme circumstances. With tens of thousands breaking its borders in just two days, it might have been though this fast-track process would genuinely by very prompt. Instead, here is what the Council of the EU has to say:
“Where large groups of applicants are arriving from a specific country or region of origin and are likely to be in need of protection, the Commission can adopt a recommendation for the application of an expedited procedure.
”This procedure allows for the omission of the personal interview and should be concluded in less than four weeks.”
- - EU Council, undated, accessed 04 Aug 2026
As can be seen, in the lumbering EU, even in an emergency the best aspiration from that organisation is to agree to do something in four weeks’ time. In this case the procedure was invoked. However, only 22 out of the 27 member countries signed the letter to the Council. This goes some way towards showing how split the bloc has become on a variety of key issues.
The EU’s colonialism is normally out of sight – not now
One aspect of this whole affair has been mostly hidden in Europe and in the UK. That aspect is the number of colonies still owned and/or controlled by their European masters.
In this case we have Ceuta, in Africa, which is Spanish and therefore part of the EU. It is an autonomous city area in the same way as nearby Melilla, also Spanish-owned.
It has its own assembly in a similar way to London or Manchester, has a low-tax system integrated with the EU, and its defence forces are Spanish. It is for these reasons the Spanish could unilaterally react as fast as they did to the unfolding events last week.
While many ‘woke’ forces in the UK seems determined to belittle the United Kingdom’s past, and wish to rewrite elements of colonial history, it is forgotten that in the EU there are several countries whose colonialism is still alive and well in the current age.
Lord Redwood commented exclusively to us again
“The UK needs to heed the warnings of Facts4EU and the events in Ceuta. The EU has a huge problem controlling its borders and limiting migration. The EU wants a UK re-set to allow the EU to send us more people to live and work in the UK to relieve the pressures on the continent.
“Spain is currently granting an amnesty to over 1 million who will all eventually gain rights to travel around the EU. They may well want to come to the UK. Out of the EU we got rid of our Dublin Treaty obligations which made us take more migrants than we were able to send back to the continent.
“The last thing we need is a closer relationship with the EU to make us take more young people in. We do not have spare homes, enough utility capacity, extra benefits money, or more jobs to become part of the EU porous border system.”
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[ Sources: EU Commission (Eurostat) | EU Council | ONS ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Wed 05 Aug 2026
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