Royal Navy mission to stop migrants crossing the English Channel will cost £50m, MP reveals

A MISSION to use Royal Navy warships to stop thousands of migrants from crossing the Channel could cost the taxpayer £50m, a defence minister has revealed.

The Senior Service has been tasked with tightening up Britain’s maritime border as part of home secretary Priti Patel’s tougher stance on tackling the migrant crisis.

Boris Johnson personally green-lit a plan earlier this year for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to step in and use Royal Navy warships to sort out the mess, as part of Operation Isotrope.

It is expected naval patrol ships from Portsmouth will be used to support Border Force cutters as part of the Channel lockdown.

The news comes after it was revealed that Britain had seen the number of migrants making the dangerous crossing trebling to 28,431 last year.

Now, armed forces minister James Heappey has revealed that the Treasury has set aside an extra £50m to deflate the nation’s migrant crossing crisis.

In a written response to Labour MP Kevan Jones, who sits on parliament’s defence select committee, Mr Heappey said: ‘HM Treasury agreed that £50m in additional funding would be made available to the Ministry of Defence to deliver military primacy of small boat operations in the English Channel. This was communicated to Ministry of Defence officials on 24 March 2022.’

Latest figures compiled by the government revealed that on Sunday, 234 migrants attempted the crossing across the Channel.

Meanwhile, the total number of migrants spotted tackling the journey so far this month has reached 2,084, according to the latest figures by the MoD.

Speaking previously about the Channel operation, Mr Heappey said: ‘Operation Isotrope aims to prevent all uncontrolled arrival of migrants, with all migrant vessels intercepted before, or as, they land on UK shores.’

However, critics have said the plan is ‘not feasible’ and would place an ‘unrealistic expectation’ on the navy, which is already busy with operations across the globe.

Shadow defence secretary John Healey told Daily Mirror: ‘The navy will do a professional job but cutting down migrant crossings depends on sorting out the wider system.

‘The military are there to protect the nation, not to help out failing Tory ministers.’

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