Britain and France vow to stop '100 per cent' of Channel migrant crossings

Priti Patel and her French counterpart have pledged to stop “100 per cent” of migrant crossings after crisis talks in the wake of record numbers reaching the UK.

The Home Secretary and Gerald Darmanin, France’s interior minister, agreed in online talks on Monday night to “accelerate” their efforts to make small boat crossings “unviable.”

The meeting followed a war of words between London and Paris after a record 23,500 migrants crossed to the UK this year, nearly treble the total for 2020 and including the highest ever daily total of 1,185 on Thursday last week.

Ms Patel is pressing for Mr Darmanin to speed up the delivery of his commitment to intercept 100 per cent of migrants before they reach the UK in return for the £54 million UK Government funds for extra patrols and surveillance. The French stopped just 99, less than one in 10 migrants, on Thursday.

Mr Darmanin on Monday said Britain was “in no position to give lessons” to the French and urged British politicians to stop using France as “a punch-ball in their domestic politics.”

In a joint statement issued after the talks, Ms Patel and Mr Darmanin said: "The Home Secretary spoke to her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin to discuss the problem of small boats crossing the Channel and the operational response to it. 

“Both the Home Secretary and Interior Minister agreed to strengthen operational cooperation further. More must be done to stop the dangerous crossings.

“They agreed to accelerate the delivery of the commitments made in the joint agreement of July 2021 to deliver on their joint determination to prevent 100 per cent of crossings and make this deadly route unviable.”

It said they had also discussed “additional technical solutions to tackle organised crime groups and respond to the escalating issue.”

They also discussed the mounting migrant crisis in eastern Europe which Britain accused Belarus and Russia of engineering to undermine European unity.

The total of 1,185 migrants who crossed the Channel on Thursday smashed the previous daily high of 853 as smugglers exploited the cold but calm weather. Hundreds more are expected early this week due to calmer seas.

Britain has described the figures as "unacceptable." On Friday, three people who tried to cross in a canoe were reported missing.

Most Channel migrants 'are legitimate refugees'

Nearly two-thirds of the Channel migrants arriving in the UK on small boats are legitimate refugees with a right to stay in the UK, according to an analysis published on Wednesday by the Refugee Council.

The report, based on Freedom of Information data and Home Office statistics and presented to the home affairs committee on Wednesday, found 98 per cent of those reaching the UK after taking small boats across the Channel appealed for asylum.

Based on an analysis of successful applications from January 2020 to June 2021, the council found 61 per cent of initial decisions would have resulted in refugee protection being granted.

Nine in 10 of the small boats applicants came from just 10 countries where human rights abuses and persecution are common, increasing their chances of a successful asylum attempt.

For Syrians the grant rate is likely to be 88 per cent, for Eritreans 84 per cent, for Sundanese and those from Yemen 70 per cent, for Iranians 67 per cent, for Vietnamese 65 per cent, for Bidoon people from Kuwait 61 per cent and for Afghans 56 per cent.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: "The reality is that people who come to the UK by taking terrifying journeys in small boats across the Channel do so because they are desperately seeking safety having fled persecution, terror and oppression.

Their lives have been turned upside down through no fault of their own and they are exploited by callous people smugglers.

"This government should show compassion by welcoming those who need refugee protection rather than seeking to cruelly push them back across the channel or punish them with imprisonment.

"At the same time there needs to be an ambitious expansion of safe routes so people don't have to take dangerous journeys to reach safety."