UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid is holding talks with Whitehall chiefs on Monday as he prepares to step up action on migrants’ attempts to reach Britain by boat from France.
Mr Javid cut short a family holiday in South Africa to take personal control of the situation, which has seen almost 100 migrants making the perilous Channel crossing in dinghies and other small craft over the Christmas period.
But writing in the Daily Telegraph, he admitted that many of the factors behind the increase in crossings are “outside of our control”.
Journeys are being fueled by instability in the Middle East, organized crime and tighter security at Calais, he said, adding: “Unfortunately there are no easy answers.”
He added: “While we have obligations to genuine asylum seekers… we will not stand by and allow reckless criminals to take advantage of some of the most vulnerable people in our global society.”
In phone talks on Sunday, which the UK Home Office described as “significant and productive”, Mr Javid and his French counterpart Christophe Castaner agreed to ramp up co-operation to stop the crossings.
An “enhanced action plan” to be launched this week will include increased joint patrols and surveillance, disruption of organized trafficking gangs and efforts to raise awareness among migrants of the dangers of a Channel crossing.
But Mr Javid faced accusations of over-egging the scale of the problem, with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott telling the Guardian: “There’s no question that with Brexit, and also with the approach of the meaningful vote in January, people are being whipped up about migration issues, because the Government thinks this is the best way of frightening people to vote for their deal.”
British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for a more welcoming approach, tweeting: “We have a duty to reach out the hand of humanity, support and friendship to people who are in danger and seeking a place of safety.”
We have a duty to reach out the hand of humanity, support and friendship to people who are in danger and seeking a place of safety.https://t.co/1EaUJ9Lpj6
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) December 30, 2018
Mr Javid has come under growing pressure from his own backbenches to act, with Kent MP Rehman Chishti telling him to “get a grip”.
Dover MP Charlie Elphicke repeated calls for Border Force cutters to be brought back from search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean to patrol the Channel.
Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said the armed forces were ready to offer help if needed, but there had been no requests from the British Home Office.
In the latest in a sequence of Channel crossings, six Iranian men were found on a Kent beach early on Sunday having arrived from France in a rigid-hulled inflatable boat.
The group were handed over to immigration authorities after being spotted in Kingsdown, near Deal.
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