On Friday, UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid called the rising number of migrants attempting to cross the English Channel and reach the country from the mainland Europe a “major incident”.
Despite growing pressure from the Conservative Party, Sajid Javid appears to be resisting calls for additional boats to be deployed to the English Channel to deal with the migrant crisis. A number of MPs have been urging the home secretary to call on Royal Navy sailors waiting on holiday standby with ships and choppers before the crisis could escalate into a full-fledged “catastrophe”.
Seven Iranian Migrants Rescued in English Channel by UK Border Force
Commons Home Affairs Committee member and independent MP John Woodcock has stressed that people were “losing confidence in the struggling Border Force”:
“It's time to stop the rot by sending in the Royal Navy. It was a big mistake to deploy forces elsewhere. If the civilian force can't cope, the Navy must stop this crisis becoming a catastrophe”.
Javid was also blasted for leaving the area under-protected, with another committee member Tory MP Tim Loughton saying that there was a “serious security implication”, because it appeared that only two of Britain's five high-speed cutters were patrolling the Channel. A third is said to be on standby, while two are in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas.
“There is a serious security implication, as this is a likely route…
