Navy mission to stop boats of migrants
THE Royal Navy has been tasked with stopping all migrants crossing to England in small boats.
PM Boris Johnson has passed the problem to the armed forces under Operation Isotrope.
Armed forces minister James Heappey said the operation aims to stop “all uncontrolled arrival of migrants, with vessels intercepted before, or as, they land on UK shores”.
But a former immigration adviser said: “This is an unrealistic expectation to place on the Navy.”
Shadow defence secretary John Healey added: “The Government needs to do serious work to secure cooperation with France to break smuggling gangs.”
The number of known migrant crossings tripled last year to 28,431.