Home Office resumes responsibility for migrant boats

The Home Office is to take back responsibility for overseeing operations to tackle small boats carrying migrants across the Channel.

For the past eight months, the The Royal Navy had been temporarily in charge. This period has seen a record number of people making the journey from France, with more than 40,000 people crossing the English Channel since last April.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman said failure to stop the boats could cost the Conservatives the next election.

The change in operational control follows last month's announcement that a new small boats operational command (SBOC) would be created to oversee the Channel crossings.

The unit, which brings together military and civilian staff and the National Crime Agency, plans to recruit 730 additional staff and invest in new vessels, drones and cameras to track the crossings and prevent tragedies at sea. It also wants to identify those steering the boats with a view to prosecuting them. Senior staff currently being recruited.

A Counter Terror Business webinar entitled Securing Maritime Borders: Humane National Security will take place on April 20 and will discuss the issues surrounding migrant control.