Migrant crisis: Priti Patel planning to send UK-bound migrant boats back to France

Watch: Patel planning to send UK-bound migrant boats back to France

Home Secretary Priti Patel has defied French officials by asking the Border Force to look into turning away migrant boats from British waters.

Border Force personnel are understood to have been training for several months in how some boats could be turned back to French waters using pushback tactics - and are in the final stages of this training.

The Home Office has taken legal advice which has led them to believe that in some limited circumstances it would be safe and legal to do so, within existing international law.

It is understood it would be up to individual boat captains to decide whether it would be safe to do so - and the boat would not capsize.

The French interior minister has rejected the idea.

Border officials will then be told to alert the French coastguard to the presence of migrants in their territorial waters, placing the burden on them for their rescue.

The turnaround tactics will only be used in "very limited circumstances" for sturdier, bigger migrant boats and only when deemed safe to do so, it has been reported.

To circumvent opposition from French authorities, Ms Patel is said to have ordered officials to rewrite Britain's interpretation of international maritime law, prompting anger from diplomats.

Earlier, at a G7 interior minister's meeting, she told her French counterpart that stopping illegal crossings was an "absolute priority" for the British public.

Ms Patel and the French interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, held discussions on crossings at Lancaster House in London, in the wake of hundreds of migrants arriving in Kent over the past few days.

It comes as Sky News revealed that the UK is speaking to the Ghanaian government about a possible plan to alleviate the UK's immigration problems.

Watch: Migrants 'see the UK as El Dorado so they'll keep coming'

Witnesses claimed record-breaking numbers of migrants attempted to cross the Channel on Monday.

It was thought that at least 1,000 men, women and children were spotted attempting to make the journey from France to the UK.

But the Home Office said the official figure for people arriving was lower at 785 people, with French authorities preventing 378 from reaching the UK that day.

The record for people successfully crossing the channel was 828 on 21 August.

Ms Patel tweeted that the talks were "constructive", adding: "I made clear that delivering results and stopping crossings were an absolute priority for the British people."

But The Times shed doubt on this, reporting that Mr Darmanin made it clear the proposals would damage relations and have "a negative impact on our co-operation".

The paper also said Mr Darmanin rejected a UK request to create a joint force, with police and border force officers from both countries patrolling the coastline and the Channel.

It said Mr Darmanin blamed the increasing numbers of migrants reaching the UK on new tactics deployed by people smugglers to "overwhelm" authorities.

He added that the pressure on France's borders "has never been greater".

French lawmaker Pierre-Henri Dumont, who represents the Calais region of northern France, said authorities there were doing all they could.

"The fact is, we've got 300 to 400km (190 to 250 miles) of shore to monitor every day and every night, and it's quite impossible to have police officers every 100m (330ft) because of the length of the shore," he told the BBC.

"We cannot stop all the crossings," he added. "We need to address the causes of migration."

Ms Patel is under increasing pressure from Boris Johnson and senior Tories to stop the flow of people from Calais.

She has threatened to withhold millions of pounds in funding to help France bolster their coastal patrols unless the number of migrants intercepted by them improves.

Earlier this year France and the UK agreed to double the number of police patrolling French beaches, with the UK promising £54m in support.

But the two countries have clashed over their interpretation of maritime law.

France says it states that the coastguard is barred from intercepting boats unless those on board request assistance.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said efforts to stop the crossings depended "to a large extent" on the ability of the French authorities.

Data compiled by the PA news agency suggests at least 13,000 people have now made the crossing to the UK in 2021.

According to the UK government's clandestine channel threat commander Dan O'Mahoney, efforts so far have prevented more than 10,000 migrant attempts, led to almost 300 arrests and secured 65 convictions.