Priti Patel meets with the French Minister on the crossing of migrants | Immigration and Asylum

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Priti Patel is due to hold meetings with French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, after a tense exchange between the two countries over the number of migrants crossing the Channel into the UK.

Wednesday’s talks come on the heels of the influx of small boats during this week’s warm weather, adding to pressure on the Downing Street home secretary and other members of her party.

The Interior Ministry said 785 people crossed the Channel in small boats on Monday, short of last month’s record of 828 migrants.

Patel launched a war of words on Monday when she told MPs Britain could withhold £54.2m, which she had promised France to help deal with the situation, unless more boats were intercepted.

Conservative MPs have called on the interior minister to break international law and to send all migrants arriving illegally by boat directly to France.

A detailed refutation from France’s interior ministry on Tuesday warned the UK against attempting any action that would contravene international law, saying there would be “consequences” if Britain refused to hand over money agreed in July to combat small boat crossings.

The ministry said the deal was negotiated “in detail with the British side” and “there was no question of making payment conditional on objectives… Such an approach would reflect a serious loss of confidence in our cooperation.”

13,500 migrants crossed the canal in small boats this year, including 1,000 in the past two days. The French prevented two hundred from crossing on Monday, when 742 reached the United Kingdom.

The French ministry said it had prevented more than one in two crossings since January, or more than 10,000 migrants, after deploying “large and constantly growing resources”. It also doubled its resources in southern France to deal with migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

Pierre-Henri Dumont, the French MP from Calais, accused Patel of trying to use British taxpayers’ money to intensify pressure on the French authorities.

“We’re just doing our job and trying to save lives in the canal and make sure it doesn’t turn into a cemetery,” he said. The UK needs to address the reasons why people want to seek asylum in the UK. Many of these people are from former British colonies.”

Conservative MPs who lobbied Patel on Monday to send boats directly to France have been criticized by refugee activists.

“What MPs are proposing is that the government take illegal action by sending people to France without first processing their claims,” said Minnie Rahman, campaign manager at the Joint Council for Migrant Welfare. “The hysterical reactions and the whistling of the dogs do nothing to help asylum seekers get the protection they need.”

“The only way to end these trips is for the government to share the responsibility with France, and to make sure people are able to travel to the UK safely.”

How the Covid pandemic led to more channel crossings – video explanation

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