Royal Navy reportedly looking to 'walk away' from plans for migrant patrols in the Channel as crossings surge

In January, the prime minister Boris Johnson and home secretary Priti Patel gave the navy ‘primacy’ in dealing with small boats looking carrying asylum seeks and migrants in the waters around the UK.

But official Ministry of Defence data has revealed that the number of crossings have double in the last three months, compared with the first three months of the year.

According to reporting in The Observer, Home Office sources believe that up to 60,000 people may arrive by small boats this year – double last year’s record.

Last year, more than 28,000 migrants and refugees crossed the Channel to Britain, more than three times as many as in 2020.

Speaking to The Observer, Tobias Ellwood, Conservative chair of the defence committee, which has completed a inquiry into the use of the military in the Channel, said: ‘I know the Ministry of Defence really wants to walk away from this, wants this to conclude.’

At the start of the year as government’s plan was being formed, a former Royal Navy admiral and Second Sea Lord warned MPs that navy ships would act as a ‘honeypot’ for migrants, as they would be seen as a safe way to cross the English Channel.

Retired Admiral Sir Charles Montgomery, a former head of the Border Force, told MPs on the defence select committee that navy ships would be a ‘prime target’ for migrants.