Channel push back tactic will only stop ‘1pc of migrant boats’

PRITI PATEL’S top civil servant has admitted that only a “small proportion” of migrant boats will be turned back in the Channel as he downplayed the potential impact of the new tactics.

Matthew Rycroft, the permanent secretary at the Home Office, refused to say what proportion would be turned back by Border Force officers on jet skis but said it was closer to 1 per cent than 49 per cent.

Asked in what circumstances the “push back” tactic would be deployed, Mr Rycroft told MPS on the Home Affairs Committee that it would only be used “if it can be done in a safe and legal way”.

Ms Patel, the Home Secretary, has secured legal advice for Border Force vessels to redirect migrant boats away from UK waters and back towards France, where the French will have to return them to shore.

The French claim the change in tactic – where Border Force jet skis swarm a boat – is a breach of trust, illegal under maritime laws and a threat to life.

The UK’S plans for asylum reform would break international law, according to the UN’S refugee agency.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said the Nationality and Borders Bill, which would make it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK without permission, would “penalise most refugees seeking asylum in the country via damaging and unjustified penalties”.