Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Navy ‘will not’ force the boat migrants back
French slam UK plans to tackle crisis in Channel
A TOP French MP yesterday rubbished claims that the Royal Navy could force migrant boats away from UK waters.
More than 4,000 migrants have reached Britain this year by crossing the Dover Strait in small vessels. The Government is reportedly considering deploying warships to intercept boats in the English Channel.
But Pierre-henri Dumont, MP for Calais, said: “Is the British Navy going to shoot at boats to prevent immigrants entering the British waters?
“Is the Navy going to enter French waters before immigrants try to cross into British waters? This is a political measure to show some kind of muscles to fight illegal crossings. But that won’t change anything.”
Border Force met a dinghy with around 20 Syrian migrants off the coast of Dover yesterday, as Home Secretary Priti Patel visited the port.
Ms Patel said: “We will bring down the criminal gangs that facilitate these illegal crossings. Collectively with the French, we need to make this route unviable.” Immigration Minister Chris Philp will hold talks with his French counterpart today.
PM Boris Johnson said: “Criminal gangs are risking the lives of people taking them across the Channel.
“We want to stop that [and] make sure that they understand that this... is a very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal thing to do.”
Lisa Doyle, of the Refugee Council, said: “It’s disappointing to hear the PM using inaccurate and inflammatory language to describe men, women and children desperate enough to make perilous journeys. Seeking asylum is not a crime.”