The UK threatens to return immigrant ships to France

LONDON / PARIS, Sept. 9 (Reuters) – Britain approves plans to smuggle boats carrying migrants to its shores, deepening the break with France on how to deal with an increase in people trying to cross the Canal in small light sailing.

Hundreds of small boats have attempted the trip from France to England this year, via one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

Border officials will be trained to force ships to leave British waters, but will deploy the new tactic only when they deem it safe, a British government official said on Thursday who asked not to be appointed.

Michael Ellis, the acting Attorney General of Great Britain, will draw up a legal basis for border officials to deploy the new strategy, the official said.

Interior Minister Priti Patel told French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin that stopping people leaving France with small boats was their “number one priority”.

Darmanin said Britain must abide by both maritime law and commitments made to France, which include financial payments to help fund French maritime border patrols.

“France will not accept any practice that goes against maritime law, or financial blackmail,” the French minister tweeted.

In a letter circulated to the British media, Darmanin said that forcing ships to the French coast would be dangerous and that “safeguarding human life at sea takes precedence over considerations of nationality, status and migration policy”.

The UK Home Office, or Home Office, said: “We do not make routine comments on maritime operational activity.”

POLITICALLY CHARGED

Charities said the plans could be illegal.

Channel Rescue, a citizen patrol group looking for migrants arriving on the English coast, said international maritime law stipulated that ships had a clear duty to assist those in distress.

Clare Mosely, founder of the charity Care4Calais, which helps migrants, said the plan would put the lives of migrants at risk. “They won’t want them back. They could try to jump overboard,” he said.

The number of migrants crossing the canal in small light boats has risen this year after the British and French governments clashed against other forms of illegal entry, such as hiding in the back of trucks crossing the ports of France.

The numbers trying to reach Britain with small boats – some 12,000 so far in 2021 – are negligible compared to migratory flows to countries such as Lebanon and Turkey, which are home to millions of refugees.

But the issue has become a rallying cry for politicians in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative party. Immigration was a central issue in the decision of the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union.

France and Britain agreed in July to deploy more police and invest in detection technology to stop the passage of the Canal. French police have confiscated more boats, but say they cannot completely prevent departures. Read more

British Health Minister Helen Whately said the government’s approach was to deter migrants from attempting the journey, rather than turning them back.

The British opposition Labor Party criticized the new approach for putting lives at risk and said the priority should be to fight smuggling gangs.

Reports by Andrew MacAskill and Richard Lough Edited by William Schomberg and Timothy Heritage

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