Border Force vessels redeployed from the Med in response to Channel crossings

● Boy aged ten in latest group to land on Kent beach

Two Border Force cutters will be redeployed from the Mediterranean to the English Channel in response to the sudden increase in the number of migrants making the dangerous crossing from France.

Announcing the move, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said it was a “very serious concern” that a growing number of people were seeking to cross “one of the most treacherous stretches of water there is”.

The redeployment came as another group of migrants including a ten-year-old boy was detained on Monday after landing on a beach in Kent.

Mr Javid held talks with Whitehall chiefs on Monday after cutting short a family holiday in South Africa to take personal control of the situation,whichhasseenalmost100 migrants cross the Channel in dinghies and other small craft over the Christmas period.

But writing in a daily newspaper ahead of the decision, he admitted that many of the factors pushing migrants to make the dangerous crossing were “out of our control”, with conflict in the Middle East and organised crime networks across Europe adding to the flow of people into the UK.

Mr Javid said: “While we have obligations to genuine asylum seekers… we will not stand by and allow reckless criminals to take advantage of some of the most vulnerable people in our global society.”

The Home Office confirmed a group of 12 migrants including a ten-year-old child were detained after landing on a

0 A Border Force RIB on patrol in Dover Harbour after security was increased due to a growing number of migrants attempting to make the perilous crossing from France

Kent beach early yesterday. Nine men, two women and the child are believed to have arrived at Greatstone in a black dinghy.

Kent Police said officers were called at 8:16am to a report of a group of suspected migrants. A Home Office spokesman said: “Border Force officers were deployed to assist with a group of 12 migrants at Greatstone, Kent.

“They all received a medical assessment and have now been transferred to immigration officials for interview.”

NICOLA STURGEON

In phone talks on Sunday, which the Home Office described as “significant and productive”, Mr Javid and his French counterpart Christophe Castaner agreed to ramp up co-operation.

An “enhanced action plan” to be launched this week will include increased joint patrols and surveillance, disruption of organised trafficking gangs and efforts to raise awareness among migrants of the dangers of a Channel crossing. They also agreed to meet face-to-face in January to

assess whether further action is required.

But Mr Javid faced accusations of over-egging the scale of the problem, with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott claiming that “people are being whipped up about migration issues, because the government thinks this is the best way of frightening people to vote for their [Brexit] deal.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon claimed that “making it out to be a crisis for the rest of us so that he can then act tough

is more about the Home Secretary’s political ambitions.”

British Red Cross chief executive Mike Adamson urged the government to provide migrants with “safe alternatives” to risking the “harrowing” Channel crossing.

He said: “People only attempt perilous journeys like crossing the Channel because they are desperate. It is deeply concerning that men, women and children feel they have no choice but to put their lives at risk in their search for a safe place to live.”

“Makingitouttobea crisis for the rest of us so that he can then act tough is more about the Home Secretary’s political ambitions.”