The Royal Navy is taking over operational command from Border Force in the English Channel. The service will be responsible for intercepting boats carrying migrants. The decision follows the understanding with Rwanda to have migrants arriving in boats to UK, sent to the African country.
More than 20 people are feared to have died after their boat capsized while trying to cross the English Channel. These are the asylum seekers some Britons have considered sending over to the Falkland Islands earlier this week as scores of mostly Iranians, Iraqis, Eritreans and Syrians keep rafting in.
According to UK news reports, the British government is becoming quite desperate about the asylum seekers braving the English Channel, a record 25,000 so far this year, and all sorts of radical measures to contain the increase in arrivals are being considered, including sending the refugees south to the Falkland Islands.
The United Kingdom and France will deploy more police and invest in detection technology on the French coast to try to stop boats carrying irregular migrants from reaching British shores.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday sought to sound a note of calm saying he was working as fast as possible to unblock trade across the Channel after France shut its borders to UK haulers in a bid to contain a new variant of the coronavirus.
The French Mayor Frederic Couvillier, of the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, has threatened the UK with a “Falklands War” pertaining the dispute over the fishing waters with the European Union. Furthermore, the mayor warned of the threat of an armed conflict in light of the looming Brexit deadline.
The European Union has so far rebuffed British calls for talks on a deal to allow London to send unwanted migrants back to Europe from 2021, and could use the issue as potential leverage in wider Brexit negotiations, diplomats and officials said.
An Australian marathon swimmer on Sunday (Aug 16) became the second woman to break the men's record for number of Channel crossings - and avoided new UK quarantine rules on French arrivals on her return.
Britain appointed a commander on Sunday to lead its response to illegal small boat crossings across the Channel and said it was exploring tougher action after a spate of migrant arrivals.
Five boats carrying 65 migrants have been intercepted while attempting to cross the English Channel. The Home Office said 58 males and seven females were picked up between 07:30 and 22:30 BST on Saturday.