Patel’s French crisis talks as 785 migrants land in a day
HOME secretary Priti Patel has met her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin to discuss the ‘unacceptable’ number of migrants crossing the Channel.
The talks came after 785 people arrived in small boats on the UK’s shores on Monday – the second highest daily total on record.
Dozens more crossings continued on Tuesday and throughout yesterday amid calm conditions.
Around 14,000 migrants are believed to have completed the perilous voyage this year so far – a sharp rise on the 8,410 who made it last year.
Before sitting down with Mr Darmanin during a gathering of G7 ministers at Lancaster House in London, Ms Patel (pictured) reportedly threatened to rip up the deal to give France £54million towards its efforts to stop small boat crossings.
The agreement, the second of its kind in a year, includes a target to more than double the number of police patrolling
French beaches. Boris Johnson has said efforts to stop the crossings depend ‘to a large extent’ on the French authorities. But Amnesty International said Ms Patel was chasing a lost cause unless she changed her ‘unworkable policies’. And Calais politician Pierre-Henri Dumont told the BBC it was impossible to patrol the entire French shoreline. Bella Sankey, director of Detention Action, said: ‘If Ms Patel wants to prevent the chaos she needs to reach an agreement with her French counterpart to develop a humanitarian visa which would give safe passage to those likely to be recognised as refugees in the UK.’