The UK and France are working on new measures to stop migrants from crossing the English Channel, an immigration minister has said. Chris Philp said French officials had agreed the crossing should be made “unviable” during talks in Paris. He added the UK was prepared to support the plan financially, but it was too early to make commitments.
More than 4,000 people have successfully crossed the Channel on small boats so far this year.Speaking after the talks, Mr Philp said the UK and France had expressed a “shared commitment” to stem a recent rise in channel crossings. He added that the UK’s new Clandestine Channel Threat Commander, Dan O’Mahoney, would hold further talks in France next week.
More than 600 people have been intercepted since Thursday. Mr Philp said French authorities had intercepted over a thousand people this year, but the number making the journey was “completely unacceptable”. Asked for details of the plan, he said he would not discuss “operational” matters yet, but “a number of measures, some of them new” were being discussed. Mr Philp said the UK was hoping to take a “fresh approach” to the issue of migrant returns after its post-Brexit transition period, due to end in December. The government has said it wants a new agreement to replace the main EU law in this area, the Dublin regulation, which the UK has to follow until then. The regulation allows EU states to transfer asylum seekers to other countries in the bloc to have their applications processed.
Source: BBC
Global site 
Finnish site