The former head of the Royal Navy has hit back at Donald Trump’s call for the UK to draft in the military to end the small boats crisis, calling the suggestion “a load of nonsense”.
The US president on Thursday warned that illegal migration can “destroy” countries as he told the prime minister to “call out the military”, as Sir Keir Starmer struggles to bring illegal migration under control, with the number of crossings at a record high.
Labour minister Peter Kyle on Friday said that the Royal Navy could be called upon to tackle small boats crossing the English Channel “if needed”.
But former first sea lord Admiral Lord West said Mr Trump’s suggestion would make “no difference at all” because the UK cannot easily return boats to France.
Lord West, who coordinated the UK’s maritime response to 9/11, including the invasion of Afghanistan, said: “The American situation is very different. We basically already have the navy involved and we now have a very clear picture of which boats are coming across and how many there are,” he said.
But he added: “Of course, that makes no difference at all, unless you are allowed to return them. If we were allowed to return them, it would be brilliant, we could do that very easily, but we are not able to do that.
“All we can do is identify them, stop people drowning and basically they then get into the country.”
“Unless the French would take them back, there is nothing that can be achieved,” he warned.
“You could fill the whole Channel – well, we haven’t got enough ships – but you could have them everywhere and all they would be doing is escorting them to the UK.”
Responding to President Trump’s suggestion, Mr Kyle told BBC Breakfast: “The navy actually does have a working relationship with the UK Border Force, and the navy can be called upon if needed.”
Sir Keir is under mounting pressure to get a grip on the deepening immigration crisis, as more than 30,000 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year – a record high for this point.
He is desperately trying to get the numbers under control to stem the rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which has said it would have “no hesitation” deploying the navy into the Channel.
Sir Keir’s approach centres on tackling the people smuggling gangs, as well as a new “one in, one out” pilot deal with France under which it will accept some returns of small boat migrants in exchange for Britain taking some asylum seekers from France.
The first deportation flights under the scheme finally got off the ground this week, despite a slew of last-ditch legal challenges, and are expected to continue until next summer.
On Friday a third person was deported from the UK under the “one in, one out” deal. Home Office sources said an Iranian male had been returned. This followed the removal of an Eritrean man earlier on Friday after he lost a High Court bid to halt his removal, and the deportation of an Indian national on Thursday.
Despite the scale of the challenge, Tan Dhesi, chair of parliament’s defence select committee, insisted the operational responsibility for small boat migrants “should not fall to our armed forces”.
He told The Independent: “Donald Trump has his own opinion and [has] given advice accordingly to the UK government, but I don’t agree. Our already pressured military shouldn’t become operationally responsible for the small boats crisis.
“Our brave armed forces already have enough on their plate. It’s been widely criticised by the cross-party defence committee previously due to a number of factors.
“We’ve been here before with Boris Johnson’s failed Operation Isotrope, which had to be cancelled within a matter of months, so I hope this warning is heeded before we waste more taxpayer money.”
Operation Isotrope saw tens of millions of pounds spent to send naval patrols into the Channel in a failed bid to deter small boat migrants.
Mr Dhesi called for assurances from the government that future involvement of the Ministry of Defence would be limited so as not to add strain to the already stretched military.
Tory former defence minister Tobias Ellwood described the idea as “the sort of Reform thinking that glosses over the details”.
The ex-MP and defence committee chair told The Independent the military could provide extra manpower in the Channel, but questioned “for what purpose?”.
Mr Ellwood added that the situation was “apples and pears” compared to what Mr Trump is dealing with in the US, where migrants can be pushed back to their own countries.
“That is not the same in the Channel, where many have travelled from Asia and Africa,” he said.
On Thursday, Mr Trump said that his administration had prevented “millions” from coming over the border, adding that migration “destroys countries from within”.
“We had millions of people coming in, totally unchecked, totally undetected from the Biden administration,” he told reporters. “[About] 25 million, in my opinion, that would be about 25 million. They came from prisons. They came from mental institutions. They were gang members ... they came from everywhere.”
Turning to Sir Keir, he added: “I think your situation is very similar. You have people coming in and I told the prime minister I would stop it, and it doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use.”
At the press conference, the prime minister highlighted his returns deal with France, which he said was an important part of the government’s efforts to tackle the crossings.
Lashing out at Labour’s refusal to rule out the proposal, Green Party leader Zack Polanski said: “It’s just another descent from this government into cruelty towards people who have been pushed into desperate circumstances.
“If Peter Kyle wants to stop the boats, he should push his government to open safe and legal routes.
“I’m not surprised they’re learning from Trump – they seem desperate to emulate Farage whilst being completely oblivious to the fact Reform already exists.”
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