Navy is looking to lease up to ten new boats for migrant patrols as its vessels are ‘too high’ to pick people up from dinghies, armed forces minister says
- The Navy is looking to lease up to ten new vessels to intercept migrant boats
- The force’s current ships sit too high in the water to pick people up from dinghies
- Admirals want to find ‘low platformed’ boats instead, armed forces minister said
- Mr Heappey said the flow of migrants was ‘a threat to our national security’
The Navy is looking to lease up to ten new vessels to intercept migrant boats in the Channel, the armed forces minister said yesterday.
The force’s current ships sit too high in the water to pick people up from dinghies, so admirals want to find ‘low platformed’ vessels instead, James Heappey said.
Once aboard, migrants will be arrested under new powers due to come into force under Priti Patel’s immigration Bill, which is passing through Parliament.
Admirals are finalising details of the boats which will be required when they take over command of the Channel operation from Border Force.
‘We need additional platforms that are appropriate to the task,’ Mr Heappey told radio station LBC.
The minister added that the Navy may well ‘need anywhere up to another ten of the larger vessels’ for picking people up mid-Channel.
The Navy is looking to lease up to ten new vessels to intercept migrant boats in the Channel, the armed forces minister said yesterday. The force’s current ships sit too high in the water to pick people up from dinghies, so admirals want to find ‘low platformed’ vessels instead, James Heappey said
A number of smaller vessels will also be required to escort some of the migrant boats to UK shores
The Ministry of Defence was due to take command of the Channel operation on Monday, but it is understood the start date has been postponed.
‘We have been looking to lease a certain type of platform.
‘We’re looking maybe that we would need anywhere up to another 10 of the larger vessels you would use to do the mid-Channel cross-decking.
‘Then I’m guessing that we would need a number of smaller vessels to shadow dinghies to the shore. A lot of this is yet to be modelled.’
He went on: ‘What you might envisage is that your preference could be to intercept a higher number of people in the Channel.
‘The point of arrest now would be in the Channel as a consequence of the Nationality and Borders Bill.
‘And that, I think, in itself acts as a deterrent.
‘With other dinghies you might need to shadow it into shore with a Rhib [rigid-hulled inflatable boat] and then arrest them on the beach, because it would be too dangerous to do anything otherwise.’
Last month Mr Heappey told MPs the flow of migrants had ‘reached the point where it is a threat to our national security’ (Border Force vessels arrive into Dover after picking up migrants in the English Channel last month)
Last month Mr Heappey told MPs the flow of migrants had ‘reached the point where it is a threat to our national security’.
He said the MoD’s new operation, code-named Isotrope, would ‘guarantee’ that ‘nobody arrives in the UK on their own terms’.
After years of small boats reaching British beaches without being apprehended, Mr Heappey said all vessels will be intercepted once Isotrope begins.
The Nationality and Borders Bill also contains new powers for UK authorities to turn-back dinghies in the Channel.
But these will be conditional on France agreeing to allow the migrants back – something so far refused by President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
Whitehall sources hope the French will be more likely to agree to such changes after the April’s presidential election.
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