Force the French to take back Channel migrants, urge MPs after 700 arrive over five days

France should be required to take migrants turned back at sea, say MPs, after more than 700 successfully crossed the Channel in five days.

At least 50 migrants crossed the Channel by small boats on Wednesday – the total to make the dangerous journey in 2021 now nears 4,000.

It followed 132 migrants who reached UK shores in six boats on Tuesday. That in turn came after more than 560 reached the UK over the weekend, including 336 in 19 boats on Friday, a record for a single day in 2021, surpassing the previous high of 209 on April 28.

The latest arrivals took the total for the year so far to at least 3,859, about double the rate compared with the same period last year.

Dover and Deal MP Natalie Elphicke said the French needed to recognise that the only way to end the trade was to deter them by showing they would be turned round and returned at sea, or removed from the UK if they reached its shores.

“Urgent action must be taken to stop these crossings,” she said. “That means tackling the criminal gangs at source, doing more to stop the small boats leaving France in the first place, turning them round in the Channel, and swiftly returning people who have entered the country through an illegal route of entry.

“We know it is very serious criminal activity. It is organised crime. I would expect the French to want to work with us to bring this to an end particularly with the increase in the last few weeks of younger women and girls coming in alone through routes that are associated with sex trafficking.”

Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is proposing to change the law to make it easier to remove illegal migrants and prevent asylum claims from those who enter illegally.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Criminal gangs are putting profits before people’s lives through these dangerous and unnecessary crossings.

“More than 3,500 people have been prevented from making the dangerous crossing so far this year and we are cracking down on the despicable criminal gangs behind people smuggling. Inaction is not an option whilst people are dying.

"The Government is bringing legislation forward through our New Plan for Immigration which will break the business model of these heinous people smuggling networks and save lives.”