(Adds French interior ministry comment)
Aug 7 (Reuters) - Britain is facing an "unacceptable" rise
in the number of boats carrying migrants across the English
Channel and would act to send "illegal" entrants back to France,
immigration compliance minister Chris Philp wrote in a newspaper
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/08/07/intend-return-many-illegal-migrants-have-arrived-possible
article published on Saturday.
Philp said he was going to Paris next week to raise concerns
over the issue. The UK would urge France to stop migrants from
getting into boats and would also "return those who make it to
our shores," Philp wrote in the Telegraph.
A rise in the number of migrants attempting to cross the
English Channel has led to ministers demanding tougher actions
from the French government.
"The French must ensure that migrants who are caught
attempting to reach the UK by boat cannot do so again," Philp
wrote.
France has said calm weather conditions were making the
illegal crossings easier. Surveillance teams deployed along its
northern coast were intercepting migrants daily and extra
resources had been mobilised, an interior ministry spokesman
said.
The London-based Times newspaper reported that UK ministers
were considering blocking migrant boats in the English Channel
before they enter UK waters, a tactic used by Australia against
migrants.
Almost 4,000 people have crossed the English Channel this
year in more than 300 small boats, according to a BBC report.
France says five times as many migrant boats were caught
between January and July compared with the same period in 2019.
The English Channel is just 23 miles wide at its narrowest point
between Dover and Calais.
"This is a joint problem ... which needs a joint operational
response," the French interior ministry spokesman said.
Most migrants originate from countries such as Yemen, Egypt,
Sudan and Iraq in search of better jobs and living conditions.
Brtitish finance minister Rishi Sunak said on Friday that
people were "right to be frustrated" over migrant crossings.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru;
Editing by Sandra Maler, Grant McCool and Mike Harrison)