Migrant crisis: France calls plan to turn back Channel migrants 'financial blackmail'
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.
Thursday 9 September 2021 15:31, UK
France has called plans to turn back migrants attempting to cross the Channel "financial blackmail" and insisted the UK must honour its commitments.
In a tweet, interior minister Gerald Darmanin said France "will not accept any practice that goes against maritime law, nor financial blackmail".
In a separate letter leaked to the British media, he said that forcing boats back to the French coast would be dangerous and insisted that "safeguarding human lives at sea takes priority over considerations of nationality, status and migratory policy".
It comes after it emerged that Home Secretary Priti Patel has asked the Border Force to look into employing "pushback tactics" in British waters.
Border Force personnel are understood to have been training for several months and are in the final stages of this.
Sky News understands the Home Office has taken legal advice which has led it to believe that in some limited circumstances it would be safe and legal to do so, within existing international law.
It is understood turnaround tactics would only be used in "very limited circumstances" for sturdier, bigger migrant boats and it would be up to individual boat captains to decide whether it would be safe to do so.
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.
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.
Downing Street said the government is looking at "a range of safe and legal options" to deal with migrant Chanel crossings and that the UK's activities "comply with international and domestic law".
"I think Border Force have a range of safe and legal options available to them to deploy, I'm not going to comment on operational tactics in more detail," the PM's official spokesperson said on Thursday.
Asked whether the PM had approved reported plans to turn around boats headed for the UK and send them back to France, he added: "Without getting into operational matters, as part of our ongoing response we continue to evaluate and test a range of safe and legal options to find ways of stopping small boats making this dangerous and unnecessary journey."
Earlier, at a G7 interior ministers' meeting, the home secretary told her French counterpart that stopping illegal crossings was an "absolute priority" for the British public.
Ms Patel and Mr 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 Sky News revealed that 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", 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.
French politician Pierre-Henri Dumont, who represents the Calais region of northern France, told the BBC: "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."
"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.
Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky News: "That the home secretary even considered a proposal like this, that will risk lives, is evidence of her own failure."
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.
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.