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7,500 illegal Channel migrants could reach UK by Christmas, as ministers demand tougher action from France

A tiny baby was among those who arrived in Dover yesterday after crossing the channel on a dinghy - Steve Laws/SWNS
A tiny baby was among those who arrived in Dover yesterday after crossing the channel on a dinghy - Steve Laws/SWNS

About 7,500 migrants will cross the Channel this year on current trends, an analysis shows, as the UK’s immigration minister prepared to head to France to demand it turn back the boats.

The 235 illegal migrants who reached the UK on Thursday - a record for a single day - has pushed the total for the year to date to 4,137, more than double the 1,892 in the whole of 2019, according to the analysis of official figures by Migrationwatch.

The campaign group projected this would mean a total of 7,500 by Christmas if current trends continued and no further action was taken by Britain or France.

On Friday, a further estimated 100 migrants had reached Britain by lunchtime although some incidents were still ongoing.

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, has ordered a review of the UK's current sea capability in the Channel which could see the Navy recalled to help tackle the crisis for the first time since her predecessor Sajid Javid requested military aid in January 2019.

The  Home Office has also chartered a plane to return a “small number” of the migrants to France next week after deciding their claims for asylum should not be pursued in the UK but, under EU rules, in the first country in which they arrived.

Chris Philp, the immigration minister, will head to France next week to urge the French to do more to turn back the migrants and return them to France.

The French authorities do intercept some vessels but when migrants refuse and threaten to jump into the sea, the patrol boats withdraw as the preservation of life is the first law of the sea.

The French then shadow the migrants to ensure that the overcrowded dinghies come to no harm until they reach British waters.

However, Ms Patel has said UK legal advice suggested the migrants could be forcibly returned and has already overseen sea trials where Border Force officers worked with Navy reservists to develop techniques to halt and turn back the boats including nets in the propellors.

Mr Philp said: “I share the anger and frustration of the public at the appalling number of crossings we have seen today. The crossings are totally unacceptable and unnecessary as France is a safe country.”

“We work closely with France and I will be in Paris early next week to seek to agree stronger measures with them, including interceptions and returns. This situation simply cannot go on.

“We have to make the route completely unviable. Then migrants will have no incentive to come to northern France or attempt the crossing in the first place.   “We intend to return as many migrants who have arrived as possible. There are returns flights planned in the coming days.

“And we will also continue to go after the heinous criminals and organised crime networks putting people’s lives at risk. Twenty-two people smugglers have been jailed this year and two more were charged last weekend.” About 11 boats containing more than 100 migrants were said to have been intercepted in the Channel and brought to the UK.

Among them was a group of 12 men aged in their twenties who were on a small boat, which was brought into Dover harbour after being met by a Border Force cutter off the Kent coast.

The men were given facemasks before being escorted onto a bus at the Port of Dover and driven off to be interviewed by immigration officials.

Speaking on Sky News, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, said: “I think people are absolutely right to be frustrated at the scenes they’re seeing. I’m frustrated, everyone is, which is why we’ve been working much more closely with the French government in recent time to improve our co-operation and intelligence-sharing to police crossings.”