Priti: We’ll send the migrant boats back
Border Force told to learn ‘turn-around’ tactics
MIGRANT boats will be intercepted in the Channel and sent back to France in a dramatic bid by Priti Patel to stop the surge in crossings.
In a controversial move ordered by the Home Secretary, Border Force commanders are being trained on how to deploy ‘turnaround’ tactics at sea for the first time.
It is understood that their vessels will block the paths of migrant boats before they enter British waters, then alert the French coastguard to their position, handing them the obligation to escort them back to shore.
The Government is said to have obtained ‘robust’ legal advice from top QCs that the dinghies can be stopped from crossing the Dover Strait, despite warnings from the French that returning would be asylum seekers would breach international law.
Border Force commanders say they will only intercept boats when they consider it safe to do so.
Miss Patel previously vowed to give Border Force officials the power to ‘stop and redirect vessels out of UK territorial seas’ in a planned new law, and only with the agreement of the French authorities.
But sources say the training is already under way and due to finish this month, depending on the weather, with the tactics ready to be deployed as soon as it is deemed safe.
Last month, Miss Patel visited Greece which has been accused of operating an illegal ‘pushback’ policy in which armed coastguards force refugees crossing the Aegean back into Turkish waters.
Clandestine Channel Threat Commander Dan O’Mahoney is due to report to Miss Patel on the progress of the plans, which ministers hope will deter other would-be refugees from making the crossing.
And the Home Secretary continued to get tough with her French counterpart yesterday, after threatening to withhold an extra £54million intended to beef up coastal patrols and surveillance unless more vessels are prevented from setting sail.
She had a showdown with Gerald Darmanin at the end of a G7 interior ministers summit at Lancaster House in London, telling him that decreasing interception rates by his coastal patrols were to blame for increasing migrant crossings. She then demanded the use of military-style technology to detect the boats as well as a crackdown on smuggling gangs.
But in a letter published last night, French interior minister Mr Darmanin rebuffed many of her suggestions and rejected the idea of Britain’s plan to turn the boats around, telling Miss Patel: ‘Safeguarding human lives at sea takes priority over considerations of nationality, status and migratory policy, out of strict respect for the international maritime law governing search and rescue at sea.’
Meanwhile, large numbers of migrants continued to cross the Channel for the third day in a row yesterday as smugglers took advantage of calm weather conditions.
At least 160 asylum seekers were brought to shore by Border Force and lifeguard vessels after being rescued off the coast of Kent and Sussex. More than 14,000 have already arrived this year – a significant increase on the 8,410 record set last year.