Channel 'armada' plan blocked amid fears it would become 'migrant magnet'

A man carries a young girl as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by Border Force officers last month - Gareth Fuller/PA
A man carries a young girl as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by Border Force officers last month - Gareth Fuller/PA
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Plans to deploy a Channel "armada" comprising a 400-capacity ship to support Border Force boats, dinghies and jetskis were blocked by Priti Patel amid fears that it would become a "migrant magnet".

Home Office officials drew up the plan to station the 2,000-tonne rescue ship in the middle of the Channel to take up to 400 migrants picked up from dinghies by Border Force cutters or boats.

The 200ft Sentinel ships have been used in the Mediterranean as "safe havens" for migrants after deploying their own on-board rescue crafts and net-like structures that can scoop people out of the sea in rough weather.

The scheme's backers argued that it could be used to persuade France that migrants could be safely picked up at sea and taken back to Calais or Dunkirk if the country abandoned its opposition to accepting returned migrants. Alternatively, the migrants could be transported to anywhere on the south coast.

"It's like a floating safe haven with Border Force, immigration officials, police and medics on board from which you can deploy boats and drones," said a source involved in the plan. "Any vessel operating within its sphere of operations can use it as a command and control centre.

"It would have complemented the Border Force. With its 10 or 12 boats, Border Force may be fully stretched so some migrants slip through or, in the worst case scenario, they get into trouble.

"For the same price as the £28 million that we gave to the French to bolster their operations, you could have had five of these stationed in the Channel for a year. Once on board, the migrants could be returned safely to land."

However, it is understood the plan was killed off by Chris Philp, the immigration minister, after landing on the Home Secretary's desk. A source said there were fears that it would become a "big orange magnet for migrants" that would encourage more to attempt the dangerous Channel crossing.

"There were concerns it would serve as a magnet to drive people across the Channel. It would mean they could get halfway, make it easier for migrants and risk more deaths because more people would make the crossing," said the Home Office source.

The scheme is one of a series of options considered by the Home Office to stem the surge in illegal crossings, including aggressive Australian-style "push back" tactics where Border Force vessels attempt to turn back migrants' boats at sea. Other methods considered have included floating walls or fences in the middle of the Dover straits, wave machines to push boats back and nets that stop the propellers of migrants' dinghies.

Last year, Border Force conducted trials of a British military high-speed drone boat with state of the art surveillance technology to detect and intercept migrants' dinghies. Sources disclosed that the Border Force had also trialled "sled" boats that could lift the front of a migrants' dinghy out of the water to redirect them and jet skis to detect, intercept and disrupt crossings.

Migrants have continued to surge across the Channel this year despite the UK handing an extra £28 million to France to pay for extra police patrols on northern French beaches and additional surveillance.

Although the proportion of migrants being stopped by the French has increased from 50 per cent to 70 per cent, the numbers reaching English shores in the first nine weeks of 2021 have doubled to 631 compared with just over 300 in the same period last year.

Within weeks, Ms Patel is due to publish new policy plans to combat migrants, including maximum life sentences for people smugglers, tougher asylum rules to prevent migrants making multiple claims to delay their removal and tightening the human rights grounds for claims.

There were fears on Friday that a missing migrant may have drowned after three others were rescued from a capsized boat outside Calais.

Minister for Immigration Compliance and the Courts Chris Philp said: “These dangerous crossings are facilitated by criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people and put lives at risk.

“We are making it harder for people to embark on this journey but we know there is more to do. We will leave no stone unturned as we explore new options to protect lives and make this route to the UK unviable.”