Dover MP says UK-France deal ‘falls far short’ of tackling small boats

Conservative MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke claimed the agreement struck by Suella Braverman and Gerald Darmanin fails to address the small boats crisis. The Home Secretary and her French counterpart have signed a historic £62million deal to stop illegal migrants on the French coast. But as long as English border force have no operational power on the French beaches, Ms Elphicke said the policy is doomed to fail.Conservative MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke told BBC Politics: “Unfortunately, I think this new deal falls far short of what is needed to tackle the small boats crossings. “And it doesn’t reflect the urgency or the impact of this issue in Dover, in Kent and indeed across the country as a whole.”Asked what she would like to see implemented, MP Natalie said: “I’ve been very clear that I think what we need is to make sure that we have British officers working alongside the French on the French beaches stopping the boats getting into the water in the first place.” Natalie Elphicke claimed the UK-France deal on Channel crossings is doomed to fail (Image: GETTY TWITTER/@BBCPolitics) Natalie Elphicke says British officers won’t be operating on the French beaches (Image: TWITTER/@BBCPolitics)BBC News’ Joanna Gosling jumped in, saying: “That’s exactly what’s going to happen, isn’t it? British officers will be embedded on the ground.”Mr Elphicke retorted: “My understanding is they won’t be in on the beaches. They won’t be able to exercise operational powers in terms of actually tackling the small boat crossings. “At stages, there will be observers and control rooms. I understand that’s the basis for the agreement. We’ve had joint controls, we’ve had joint intelligence now for a number of years with the French.”But that isn’t tackling the issue.”READ MORE: UK to pay France millions of pounds even if migrant crossings RISE Joanna Gosling said British officers will play a role in stemming flow of migrants (Image: TWITTER/@BBCPolitics) Suella Braverman and Gerald Darmanin signed a historic £62billion on Channel crossings (Image: GETTY)The Dover MP said the “only thing that will tackle this issue is making sure that the boats are stopped in France before they get in the water. “And unfortunately, this agreement doesn’t get us to where we need to be to tackle this very urgent and very serious crisis.”According to press release issued by France’s Interior Minsitry, the French authorities will expand their tool kit to stop Channel crossings with further intelligence sharing and surveillance technology. While the statement says France will beef up its patrol officers by 40 percent in key crossing areas, the plan does not lay out how British forces will work on the ground.DON’T MISS:UK close to sealing landmark deal with France to tackle migrant crisis [REPORT]     ‘Landmark deal can help end this migrant chaos’ [REPORT]     Haulier firm told to ‘move business to Poland’ in Home Office row [REPORT]      Suella Braverman and Gerald Darmanin discussed the policy plans for a month (Image: GETTY)However, it says French and British authorities will set up a team of observers – each based in their own respective countries – to better monitor crossings and boost intelligence sharing. Despite both countries’ coordinated efforts to stop more than 23,000 crossings in 2021 and more than 30,000 this year, over 40,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year. The UK will direct around £62million to the French authorities to help them carry out checks and invest in new technologies to track down potential illegal migrants.READ NEXT:’Terrorist’ who targeted migrant centre died due to asphyxiationWe MUST stop this deadly trade in human beings – COMMENTMigrant dragged away after shouting for helpFrance has no wish to stop migrants she just takes our cash and laughsEuropean police manhunt for Channel people smuggler dubbed ‘Scorpion’