France has intercepted fewer Channel migrants this year despite a £480 million funding deal with the UK. Photo: Durand Thibault/Shutterstock
France should copy Belgium and intercept migrant boats at sea, says Robert Jenrick.
The Minister of Immigration told MPs he is calling on France to drop its opposition to water intervention and follow the example of Belgium, which uses this tactic. helped to virtually end migrant boats leaving the beaches.
“As for small boats leaving their shores, they [Belgium] were ready to intercept boats in the water,” he said. “Now small boats rarely leave Belgian waters. This is the approach we would like to encourage the French to follow.”
Once the boats leave the beaches, France has a policy of not interfering with the water unless they are in distress and the migrants are likely to cooperate. . The UK has challenged the French interpretation of maritime law, according to which migrant boats escorted by France into UK waters were rescued by British vessels.
Mr Jenrick was responding to Tim Lawton, a former minister, who cited figures first published by The Telegraph , showing that France is intercepting fewer English Channel migrants this year despite a £480m funding deal with the UK to help stop the border crossing.
Official figures show that since January, French beach patrols have stopped just 13,759 — or 45.2 percent — of migrants, compared with 17,032 (45.8 percent) in the same period last year. However, this year there were 20 percent fewer border crossing attempts than last year.
1208 Cumulative number of arrivals crossing the English Channel in small boats
Mr Jenrick also gave the strongest signal that the government would be ready to consider withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if it loses a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of deportation flights to Rwanda this fall.
«I don't think we should remove anything from the agenda,» he said. “If we really intend to stop the boats, then we will have to consider all options, including with regard to the ECtHR.”
On Tuesday, the government was warned that its asylum costs could no longer be considered foreign aid due to Law on Illegal Migration.
Housing costs of £3.7bn and support for a backlog of applications from 175,000 asylum seekers were considered a form of humanitarian aid, accounting for almost a third of the total aid budget in 2022. However, to qualify as aid, the rules state that it must not include the denial of freedom of movement, the detention or forced removal of refugees.
The Irregular Migration Act empowers ministers to detain anyone who arrives illegally and deport them to a safe third country such as Rwanda or their home country.
In a report by the Independent Commission on Assistance (ICAI), which advises the government, it has been estimated that between £222bn and £1.86bn of the asylum budget will no longer count as aid, depending on how fully the plans have been implemented.
The ICAI said ministers have yet to implement these proposals, which depend on whether the Supreme Court gives a green light to flights to Rwanda.
Meanwhile, Mr Jenrick suggested that the asylum seekers would be transferred back to the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset , «within a few weeks» provided legionella tests, which were due to return this week, made everything clear.
The 39 migrants on board were evacuated last month after a bacterium that could cause deadly Legionnaires' disease was found in the water supply.
Successful asylum seekers are forced to leave hotels in within seven days rather than 28 as part of a Home Office cost-cutting measure that has drawn the ire of more than 140 refugee groups.
Charity organizations, including the Refugee Council, the Red Cross and Shelter, say that the move encourages people who have been granted asylum in the UK due to «poverty and homelessness» because they don't have time to find a home or job, open a bank account or apply for social benefits.
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