Shabana Mahmood is bracing for another chaotic day on the Channel, with migrant dinghies being detected already. Border Force vessel Defender is bringing in dozens of asylum seekers to Dover, while a lifeboat has been deployed to another crossing.
French Patrols Intensify
This cohort will arrive in Kent later, while French warships are patrolling as far south as Rue as fears intensify over smugglers expanding their routes into the UK. It represents a significant intensification in patrols in that region, with three navy vessels between Fort-Mahon-Plage and Le Touquet.
New Route Sparks Concern
And it comes after smugglers attempted a record crossing – from Fecamp. Dozens of migrants were detected off the coast of Eastbourne, prompting fears of a “completely new route” opening up.
Political Reactions
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are bearing down on small boat crossings, with removals of small boat migrants at record levels and asylum claims down by 12%.
“The Home Secretary has signed a landmark new deal with France to boost enforcement action on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars. This builds on joint work that has stopped over 46,000 attempted crossings since the election.
“We have removed or deported almost 70,000 people who were here illegally – an increase of 41% – and are going further to remove the incentives that draw illegal migrants to this country.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham insisted Labour’s plan to end the Channel migrant crisis is “working”.
But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, who was out on the Channel on Tuesday, said: "Basically, the French coastguard and the British coastguard and British Border Force were co-ordinating with each other. “The French coastguard and the French maritime authorities … were escorting the migrant dinghy from that location."They were escorting it to the median line, 50 or so miles north in the English Channel, and they were co-ordinating with the lifeboat in Eastbourne and Border Force vessels in Ramsgate, who then came down from Ramsgate and from Eastbourne to meet the illegal migrant dinghy halfway and pick up the illegal immigrants, and then they ferried them to Dover."That is a completely new route. It's the furthest south and the furthest west they've ever gone, and it's the longest crossing they've attempted.”
