French minister criticises UK plan to stop illegal Channel crossings
France鈥檚 interior minister has said he will not accept 鈥榝inancial blackmail鈥� or 鈥榩osturing鈥� in response to UK plans to turn away boats crossing illegally from France
France鈥檚 interior minister G茅rald Darmanin has condemned plans by the UK to turn away boats making illegal crossings to the UK
France鈥檚 interior minister has criticised his UK counterpart for plans to stem illegal Channel crossings by turning boats back to France, saying her comments were akin to blackmail.
鈥淔rance will not accept any practice contrary to the law of the sea, nor any financial blackmail. Britain's commitment must be kept. I have made this clear to my counterpart,鈥� G茅rald Darmanin stated on Thursday (September 9) in a tweet directed at UK home secretary Priti Patel.
鈥淭he friendship between our two countries deserves better than posturing that undermines cooperation between our services,鈥� he added.
Mr Darmanin met Ms Patel at a G7 meeting of ministers in London on Wednesday, where Ms Patel said that "getting results and stopping the crossings was a top priority for the British people".
She is looking into plans to use different tactics to turn away boats carrying people attempting to enter the UK from France illegally.
Ms Patel has also threatened to withhold 拢54 million (鈧�62.7 million) that the UK agreed to pay France in July to help with security patrols of the coast.
The UK home office released a statement on Thursday declaring:
鈥淲ithout getting into operational matters, as part of our ongoing response, we will continue to evaluate and test a range of safe and legal options to find ways of stopping small boats making this dangerous and unnecessary journey.鈥�
In August, a record 828 illegal Channel crossings were recorded by the UK.
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