PM’S PLEA: LET US PUT UK BOOTS ON FRENCH BEACHES

Boris ramps up pressure with five key demands to end the migrant tragedies

BORIS Johnson last night told Emmanuel Macron that he risks another Channel tragedy unless he stops blocking UK help to patrol French beaches.

In a dramatic intervention, Mr Johnson wrote directly to the French president to formally offer hundreds of British personnel to stop desperate migrants from taking to the water.

Downing Street said if Mr Macron backed down, there could be British boots on France’s northern shore as early as Monday

in a radical bid to prevent a repeat of Wednesday’s tragedy.

France has so far fiercely resisted any move to allow British law enforcement officers to operate on its soil, claiming it would violate French sovereignty.

Yesterday, Mr Macron’s government continued to push back against the move, warning Mr Johnson not to ‘exploit’ the crisis

1 Border Force officials to help patrol French beaches and nearby roads. UK could fund private security if French reject this over concerns about sovereignty

2 Allow the UK to return migrants who cross the Channel directly to France and ‘break the business model of criminal gangs’ 3 Border Force cutters to help patrol French coastal waters. French Navy could enter UK waters on joint missions

4 UK could fund the deployment of ground sensors and radar in northern France to help detect suspicious activity on remote beaches. PM also offered to ‘deepen’ intelligence-sharing on the operations of smuggling gangs

5 PM also offered to share intelligence from British surveillance flights over the Channel to help French forces intercept smuggling operations more quickly