Two Border Force cutters will be redeployed from the Med

Two Border Force cutters are being redeployed from overseas to patrol the English Channel in response to the migrant crisis, Home Secretary Sajid Javid has announced.

Speaking after a meeting with senior officials from the National Crime Agency and Border Force, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘This incident around the Channel remains a very serious concern to me, that’s why I declared it as a major incident a few days ago.

‘It’s both about protecting human life but also about protecting our borders.

‘When it comes to human life, clearly I want to make sure that we are doing all we can to protect people.

‘We must remember that this is one of the most treacherous stretches of water that there is, 21 miles with people taking grave risk, really putting their lives into their own hands by taking this journey.’

He added: ‘I have made a decision today to redeploy two of the Border Force’s largest vessels, known as cutters, from abroad back to the UK, to south-east England, and they will be joining a cutter that is already there and two other coastal patrol vessels.

‘This will help both with the human side of this situation but also to better protect our borders.’

Mr Javid said about 230 migrants had sought to cross the Channel in December but ‘just under half have actually been disrupted by the French and never actually made it in terms of leaving the French coast’.

The Home Secretary said that as well as deploying the cutters, efforts were being stepped up to tackle people traffickers and to return migrants who reach England back to France.

‘I wish there was one single answer but it does require action on many fronts,’ he said.