Home Secretary Priti Patel has defied French officials by asking the Border Force to look into turning away migrant boats from British waters.
Border Force personnel are understood to have been training for several months in how some boats could be turned back to French waters using pushback tactics – and are in the final stages of this training.
The Home Office has taken legal advice which has led them to believe that in some limited circumstances it would be safe and legal to do so, within existing international law.
It is understood it would be up to individual boat captains to decide whether it would be safe to do so – and the boat would not capsize.
The French interior minister has rejected the idea.
Border officials will then be told to alert the French coastguard to the presence of migrants in their territorial waters, placing the burden on them for their rescue.
The turnaround tactics will only be used in “very limited circumstances” for sturdier, bigger migrant boats and only when deemed safe to do so, it has been reported.
To circumvent opposition from French authorities, Ms Patel is said to have ordered officials to rewrite Britain’s interpretation of international maritime law, prompting anger from diplomats.
Earlier, at a G7 interior minister’s meeting, she told her French counterpart that stopping illegal crossings was an “absolute priority” for the British public.
Ms Patel and the French interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, held discussions on crossings at Lancaster House in London, in the wake of hundreds of migrants arriving in Kent over the past few days.
It comes as the UK is speaking to the Ghanaian government about a possible plan to alleviate the UK’s immigration problems.
Witnesses claimed record-breaking numbers of migrants attempted to cross the Channel on Monday.
It was thought that at least 1,000 men, women and children were spotted attempting to make the journey from France to the UK.
But the Home Office said the official figure for people arriving was lower at 785 people, with French authorities preventing 378 from reaching the UK that day.
The record for people successfully crossing the channel was 828 on 21 August.
Ms Patel tweeted that the talks were “constructive”, adding: “I made clear that delivering results and stopping crossings were an absolute priority for the British people.”
But The Times shed doubt on this, reporting that Mr Darmanin made it clear the proposals would damage relations and have “a negative impact on our co-operation”.
The paper also said Mr Darmanin rejected a UK request to create a joint force, with police and border force officers from both countries patrolling the coastline and the Channel.
It said Mr Darmanin blamed the increasing numbers of migrants reaching the UK on new tactics deployed by people smugglers to “overwhelm” authorities.
He added that the pressure on France’s borders “has never been greater”.
French lawmaker Pierre-Henri Dumont, who represents the Calais region of northern France, said authorities there were doing all they could.
“The fact is, we’ve got 300 to 400km (190 to 250 miles) of shore to monitor every day and every night, and it’s quite impossible to have police officers every 100m (330ft) because of the length of the shore,” he told the BBC.
“We cannot stop all the crossings,” he added. “We need to address the causes of migration.”
Ms Patel is under increasing pressure from Boris Johnson and senior Tories to stop the flow of people from Calais.
She has threatened to withhold millions of pounds in funding to help France bolster their coastal patrols unless the number of migrants intercepted by them improves.
Earlier this year France and the UK agreed to double the number of police patrolling French beaches, with the UK promising £54m in support.
But the two countries have clashed over their interpretation of maritime law.
France says it states that the coastguard is barred from intercepting boats unless those on board request assistance.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said efforts to stop the crossings depended “to a large extent” on the ability of the French authorities.
Data compiled by the PA news agency suggests at least 13,000 people have now made the crossing to the UK in 2021.
According to the UK government’s clandestine channel threat commander Dan O’Mahoney, efforts so far have prevented more than 10,000 migrant attempts, led to almost 300 arrests and secured 65 convictions.
The question must be asked:
Why is the government feeding so much nonsense to the public and scapegoating so many when it is ALL down to them?
Take your time.
What is the law now?
Border Force activity within British waters is governed by UK law, which has to comply with international maritime law – as set out by the United Nations.
The UN Conventions of the Law at Sea says that “every state” is required to “render assistance to any person found at sea in danger of being lost”.
They must then “proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of persons in distress”.
But the law is not clear about what should happen “once a rescue has been effected”.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) claims the “definition of rescue implies disembarkation” on land.
But this is not specifically referred to in international law, so this may allow boats to be legally turned around, as long as their safety on land can be guaranteed.
What is Priti Patel trying to do?
The Home Secretary has repeatedly said she wants to make illegal border crossings via the English Channel “unviable”.
In July she brought forward a new Nationality and Borders Bill, which she claims will help tackle the rising number of crossings.
If passed, it will increase prison sentences for people entering the UK illegally and – for the first time – consider whether someone arrived in the UK legally or illegally when potentially granting them asylum.
Specifically on migrant boats, Sky News understands that Ms Patel has asked Border Force to turn away some migrant vessels from British waters towards France.
The Home Office is understood to have taken legal advice that claims such tactics are in accordance with international maritime law.
Training of Border Force workers in “pushback” tactics is nearly finished, according to reports.
What are ‘pushback tactics’?
According to Oxfam, the term “pushback” refers to “the practice by authorities of preventing people from seeking protection on their territory by forcibly returning them to another country”.
Priti Patel is thought to have got the idea from recent visits to Australia and Greece, which both use it in their border policies.
According to reports, it is up to individual Border Force boat captains whether to turn a boat around or not.
Under maritime law they are only allowed to do so if it is considered safe – and if they can be sure the vessel won’t capsize as a result.
Several human rights groups have claimed that pushbacks are a breach of international law because they violate Article 14 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution.
What boats would it apply to?
According to the advice taken by the Home Office, pushbacks are only legal if they can be done safely.
Smaller dinghies with large numbers of people on them are unlikely to fit this criteria.
A source told The Daily Telegraph pushbacks are likely to be restricted to “sturdier, bigger migrant boats” and only used in “very limited circumstances”.
The vast majority of the some 13,000 migrants who have attempted to enter the UK via the Channel this year have arrived in small boats.
This means that the legal use of so-called pushback tactics is likely to be very limited.
What has been promised before?
Priti Patel’s Nationality and Borders Bill makes a number of changes to the UK’s immigration and border policy.
These include giving life sentences to people smugglers and traffickers who facilitate illegal immigration into the UK.
Unveiling the bill, she said: “People who come from France, Germany, from safe countries around the world who then cross the Channel in small boats… they will not be able to claim asylum in the UK in the way that they have been able to for so long.”
Earlier this year, Ms Patel announced she was giving £54.1 million to France to help tackle spiralling migrant crossings.
She told the Home Affairs Select Committee: “We’ve doubled the number of patrols around French beaches and improved surveillance, technology and intelligence.”
But after accusations of wasting public money, Ms Patel has now threatened to revoke it, telling The Sun: “It’s payment by results and we’ve not seen those results, the money is conditional.”
There were also reports this summer that the Home Office had asked the Royal Navy to help deal with migrants in the Channel.
What do the French say?
The French have repeatedly refused to intercept or take back migrant boats.
Instead French vessels have often been seen assisting migrant boats into British waters.
The French interior minister has rejected the idea of “pushbacks”.
“France will not accept any practices that go against maritime laws, nor any financial blackmail,” he tweeted on Thursday.
“The UK must keep to their commitments, which I said clearly to my counterpart Priti Patel.
“The friendship between our two countries deserves better than these actions that harm the cooperation of our services.”
On Wednesday, French MP for Calais, Pierre Henri Dumont told the BBC: “Nothing can stop [the migrants].
“The fact is we’ve got 300 to 400km (186 to 248 miles) of shore to monitor every day and every night and it’s quite impossible to have police officers every 100 metres because of the length of the shore.”
REMEMBER THE SIMPLEST WAY TO AVOID A REFUGEE CRISIS IS TO NOT UNDERMINE THEIR COUNTRIES AND CREATE THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.
PLEASE SUPPORT US FOR JUST £2 A MONTH https://dorseteye.com/donate/
