Channel migrants: Royal Navy to review role in operation

The military have been supporting UK Border Force in the English Channel throughout 2022

The Royal Navy's role in dealing with migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats is to be reviewed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The MoD said it would continue to support the Home Office until January 2023, when "the operational and wider arrangements will be reviewed".

The MoD said the review was always planned.

So far this year more than 20,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel.

An MoD spokesman said: "We are working across government to ensure the conditions are set for Defence to hand the task back to the Home Office following the review, this includes supporting training and capability development."

The introduction of the Royal Navy to support the UK Border Force in January was criticised by both MPs and former senior members of the armed forces, one of whom believed it would make the situation worse.

Labour MP John Spellar, vice chair of the Commons Defence Committee, attacked the plan when it was announced, and said it had not worked in practice.

'Pushing back boats'

"We're at record numbers already and it was always going to be that because they were never clear of what the Navy was supposed to do," he told the BBC.

"The image they tried to project, that they would be pushing back boats, that was clearly against the long standing international law of the sea, as was made clear to us in evidence even from defence ministers at the select committee.

"There was no logic or rationale to this, this was just a publicity stunt by a home secretary who has utterly failed on both policy and management to get a grip of her department and get a grip of the crisis."

One charity which works with migrants in northern France renewed its call for the government to allow asylum claims to be made from outside the UK.

"The only way you can apply for asylum in Britain is to be on British soil," said Phil Kerton from the group Seeking Sanctuary.

"If we set up systems where they can apply in France and have their claims at least preliminarily processed properly, then they wouldn't be having to come over and deposit their claims."

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