UK will do whatever necessary to help secure French coast -Patel

FILE PHOTO: Conservative Party Conference in Manchester

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will do whatever is necessary to help secure the French coast to stop migrants risking their lives trying to cross the English Channel, interior minister Priti Patel said on Thursday.

"I've offered to work with France to put more officers on the ground and do absolutely whatever is necessary to secure the area so that vulnerable people do not risk their lives by getting into unseaworthy boats," Patel told parliament after the death of 27 migrants in the Channel on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout, Writing by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)