Turning back “small boats” in the Channel would risk sinking them and leading to more migrants dying, says a minister.
Border security minister Dame Angela Eagle also insisted that French authorities were co-operating with the UK to stop often unseaworthy inflatable boats packed by crime gangs with men, women and children from leaving the shores of northern France.
The French authorities, though, have been accused of doing too little to stop the “small boats” crossings, with claims they are prepared to let the vessels reach UK waters when the migrants then have to be brought to Dover or another British port.
Asked why the British authorities were simply not turning back the boats to force them back to France, Dame Angela told LBC Radio: “A lot of them are so flimsy and it’s a major shipping lane.
“The issue is if you tried to turn them back you can sink them and cause more deaths.”
She claimed that in “a lot of cases” the boats overcrowded with migrants willing to risk their lives to get to Britain were being escorted back to France.
“We work very closely with our French counterparts, she added.
The human trafficking gangs are now packing 60 to 70 people, many without life jackets, into the migrant boats as they seek to rake in more cash from their “vile” trade.
“We have an increase in these tragic deaths,” added the minister.
“It’s a very dangerous crossing.
“Every person we end up stopping getting on a boat I consider to be a potential life saved.”
On Sunday, French authorities said eight people had died trying to cross the Channel after their boat got into difficulty, bringing the death toll in attempted crossings to 46 since the start of the year.
Italy has succeeded in reducing the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to its shores by around two thirds by work “upstream” with countries in Africa, better co-operation with North African countries, targeting the crime gangs, quick returns of failed asylum seekers and is now pushing ahead with processing asylum claims in Albania.
Italy has paid Tunisia millions of pounds to stop migrant boats leaving its shores heading for Italy.
She stressed that the discussions should not be taken as an endorsement of all her migration policies.
“But we are meeting a G7 country and a fellow Nato member to see how we can co-operate across border to deal with some of these vile people smuggling gangs,” Dame Angela told Sky News.
“That is the announcement I’m making about the £75 million extra to beef up the border security command and that means that we can send people into Europol, extra investigators, more intelligence, we can work with our partners across Europe and in other places to try and put a stop to this vile trade.”
The new Government in the UK is seeking to stem the flow of “small boats” across the Channel by smashing the crime gangs behind it, more work “upstream” to disrupt the human trafficking trade and speeding up the return of failed asylum seekers to their home country.
Ministers are also looking at the Italian-style asylum claims processing scheme being set up in Albania.
