The Royal Navy is threatening to “back out” of Boris Johnson and Priti Patel’s plan to freeze the number of boats carrying asylum seekers across the English Channel, as official figures show how spectacularly the policy has failed.
Defense chiefs are said to be fed up with trying to implement the Prime Minister and Home Secretary’s rapidly crumbling plan to use the military to control small boats in the Channel.
Defense Department figures show crossings have almost doubled since the military was given a “championship” on the issue in mid-April compared with the first three months of this year.
Patel and Johnson were warned that deploying the Royal Navy was likely to increase the number of crossings, but ignored expert advice because they wanted to appear tough, according to insiders.
One former defense secretary told the Observer that their miscalculations ensured the navy effectively provided an “efficient taxi service” for asylum seekers.
Meanwhile, senior Home Office sources admitted the UK could take in up to 60,000 people in small boats this year – double last year’s record – with a further 20,000 arriving via various routes, undermining confidence in Patel, who has turned the cut of transitions in their priority.
This Wednesday, Patel will be criticized by the home affairs select committee on the Channel crossing, the lack of safe, legal passage to the UK and her asylum plan in Rwanda. The government has spent significant sums trying to take asylum seekers to East Africa, but has yet to deport a single person.
Defense chiefs hope Johnson’s resignation is an opportunity to roll back the Canal initiative, as it also ties up resources at a time of escalating international security threats. Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chairman of the influential Defense Select Committee, which completed a damning inquiry into the military’s use of the Channel, said: “I know the MoD really want to get away from this, want it to end. There will be less political pressure now. The Prime Minister is leaving.”
The ex-serviceman added: “From my personal point of view I can say that this is a complete waste of naval time. The fleet is already overloaded.
John Speller, Labour’s deputy chairman of the defense committee and a former defense secretary, said the scheme had effectively reduced the navy to a “taxi service”.
Spellar added: “As it has now been demonstrated, this does not achieve any significant improvement in the situation, but involves the military in a task for which they are ill-suited and which is potentially reputational.”
Their committee heard evidence from naval commanders that, far from being a deterrent, the use of naval assets would make the passage safer and therefore more attractive to small boats.
This Tuesday, Defense Secretary James Hippie will be questioned by the committee about the operation’s projected and actual lack of operational effectiveness.
His appearance comes after ministers and officials from the Ministry of Defense and the Home Office refused to give evidence to the defense committee inquiry. When the Home Office and the Ministry of Defense were asked by the Observer to explain the legal basis for the military’s involvement in the English Channel under so-called Operation Isotropic, neither responded.
It is also understood that the National Security Council, the main forum for collective discussion of the government’s national security objectives, was not consulted before the Isotrope was announced.
Figures from the Ministry of Defense show a clear increase in migrants crossing in small boats.
In May, 2,871 migrants were apprehended crossing the Channel in small boats, compared to 1,627 in May 2021, an increase of 75%. Similarly, in the first three months of 2022, 4,540 people were detected arriving in small boats compared to 7,432 in the latter half of April, May and June after the Ministry of Defense took over.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said using the navy had proven futile. He said: “It is also expensive and demonstrates how the government is obsessed with controlling compassion and competence.
“Prime Ministers since Churchill have always given people fleeing persecution and bloodshed a fair hearing on UK soil. Using the military to repel them and seek to expel them to Rwanda is an unpleasant and brutal response.”
The MoD said: “As part of the Government’s efforts to tackle illegal migration, the MoD took the lead on the operational response to small boat migration in the English Channel in April.
“The armed forces complement the assets, expertise and experience of the Border Force and provide operational oversight and coordination of maritime operations. This agreement is likely to remain in place until early 2023.
The Home Office was approached for comment but declined to respond.
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