New Dover MP seeks urgent talks as 69 migrants picked up

Natalie Elphicke won the Dover & Deal seat for the Conservatives with an increased majority

The newly elected Dover and Deal MP is seeking talks with the home secretary after 69 migrants in five boats were picked up off the Kent coast.

Natalie Elphicke said she would be telling Home Secretary Priti Patel that the French needed to do more "to stop illegal departures from their shores".

The migrants, including 10 children, have all been given medical checks.

On 4 December, 79 migrants, including children, were intercepted in five separate incidents.

Mrs Elphicke said: "The French have been given tens of millions of pounds of British hard-earned taxpayer money... I want to know where the money has gone.

"Because while much has been done, it is clear there is more to do.

"More to do tackling the people traffickers behind this shocking trade in people.

"More to do making sure anyone found in the Channel is immediately sent back to France.

"More to do by the French to stop these illegal departures from French shores."

Five boats

• 00:45 GMT: A boat is intercepted with eight men on board, all saying they were Iranian.

• 03:35 GMT: A group of 18 people - 14 men, two women and two children - are picked up by a Border Force vessel. Their nationalities are not yet known.

• 05:10 GMT: Nine people - seven men and two children - are picked up. All presented themselves as Iranian.

• 05:30 GMT: Twenty three people are picked up from a boat. The group of 14 men, five women and four children presented themselves as Iranian, Iraqi and Uzbek.

• 07:45 GMT: A fifth boat is found with eight men, one woman and two children, all presenting themselves as Iranian. They are picked up by the Border Force.

The migrants will now be interviewed by immigration officials, a Home Office spokesman said.

More than 1,700 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats during 2019.