Former Border Force chief explains how to stop migrant boats | LBC

"The only way to stop the boats is to effect instant returns," a former UK Border Force chief tells LBC how to stop migrant boats coming to the UK.

Tony Smith a former UK Border Force chief told LBC's Tom Swarbrick that stopping migrants attempting to cross the English Channel was a question of "trying to break the cycle."

He said it was similar to the situation in the Mediterranean and in Greece.

The immigration expert said the only way to stop migrants making the dangerous crossing was by effecting "instant returns" and sending those who are caught back to France, straight away.

"But, unfortunately, in order to do that it requires a bilateral agreement with the French, and it seems at the moment the French aren't prepared to tango," Mr Smith said.

Tom pointed out that the Home Secretary Priti Patel said there were instances when the French authorities were not working to prevent migrants from attempting the crossing to the UK, with some of those boats just "250 yards away from the French coast."

Mr Smith said this was due to the French Government's interpretation of maritime law.

He revealed that, while the whole area of law is quite complex, one thing that is clear is that when a migrant is on board a UK vessel "then we are duty-bound to bring them ashore and 8make sure they're safe and well, and then they claim asylum."

"If we can't return them to France immediately, because France is a safe country, we don't have an agreement for that," he said, "then people are going to keep coming because they can see that success is simply to push off from the French coastline and get picked up by a British vessel."

#TomSwarbrick #BorderForce #LBC

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