Blair's plan for Navy to intercept refugees

The Government is studying plans to use warships to intercept people traffickers as it appeared that the controversial Sangatte refugee camp near Calais is to be closed down.

Tthe French government admitted the two countries were in discussion about its future. Downing Street welcomed the French move on Sangatte, saying it was part of a wider change in the "political climate" across Europe on the issue of migration.

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, will meet his French counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozi, next month and in July to discuss how to shut Sangatte.

The French Red Cross, which runs the camp, said conditions were deteriorating and that fighting between different ethnic groups was making it unmanageable. Sangatte was set up to hold 600 asylum-seekers, but now houses 1,300, many of whom try to cross the Channel illegally.

A French newspaper reported that a deal had been agreed to shut the camp in return for Britain taking a substantial proportion of the 1,300. French government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope stressed that no decision had been taken, but indicated that Paris would make an announcement soon.

"Discussions are under way. For now, no decision has been taken," he told a news conference following a cabinet meeting.

A leaked Downing Street memo outlined plans to mobilise Royal Navy warships to intercept people traffickers in the eastern Mediterranean. It also calls for fresh legal advice on the option of returning asylum-seekers to France.

The Ministry of Defence has also been asked for help in providing "secure bulk removals" and to open up deportation routes to "difficult-to-return countries" such as Somalia. Another proposal in the memo is the tying of bilateral British and European Union development aid to states such as Somalia, Turkey, Sri Lanka and other countries of origin to commitments to take back rejected asylum seekers.

However, Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, is said to be resisting such a move as illegal.