Migrant crisis: UK police to share command centre in Calais

The centre will target the criminals who try to smuggle migrants into northern France and across the Channel, the Home Office said.

Led by one British and one French senior commander, they will work alongside their French counterparts in a “Command and Control Centre”, the ministry said ahead of May’s visit to the ferry port.

Amnesty worldwide called on the home secretary to drop “tough” rhetoric on refugees and start discussions on how to protect “vulnerable” migrants, many of whom are fleeing warzones.

France and Britain have tried to present a united front, but the issue has strained ties with politicians in London criticising security failings, Paris complaining it is too easy for migrants to work illegally in the UK, thus luring them to its shores.

Home secretary Theresa May has this morning signed a deal with French authorities in a bid to crack down on the crisis involving migrants attempting to gain access to the UK.

The new two-nation border police force will be proactive, going out to “find and disrupt” the smuggling gangs where they are based and operate, and work to see that “networks are dismantled, prosecutions are pursued and perpetrators are punished”.

Extra fencing, floodlighting, security cameras, and infrared technology are also to be installed in the area around the tunnel.

The British government has already pledged £22 million aimed at improving security at Calais, where thousands of migrants have attempted to stow away on vehicles waiting to cross or on trains passing through the Channel tunnel. We are very well aware of the possibility of displacement.

In a joint editorial for this week’s Sunday Telegraph, the French and British interior ministers warned that “our streets are not paved with gold” as Cameron’s government seeks to dispel any perception that migrants have a soft landing in Britain.

At least nine people are known to have died trying to cross the Channel from Calais to Dover since June.

European leaders are expected to use the Malta summit to encourage their African counterparts to do more to stem the flow of migrants heading across the Mediterranean in rickety boats in search of a better life in Europe.

Britain has financed four-metre-high border fences that Eurotunnel spokesman Romain Dufour says have reduced migrant storming considerably.

According to UNHCR, there are now an estimated 3,000 refugees and migrants in Calais and in the northern coast of France – virtually the same number as last November.

Britain will increase monitoring of other North Sea ports as the crackdown on Calais pushes people to other potential departure points, she said.

“This remains an EU problem”.

“This is not just a problem that starts here in Calais”.