Sajid Javid says 'no easy answers' to migrant problem as Conservative MPs ramp up pressure

The Home Secretary was to have an emergency meeting on Monday with the border and security authorities to discuss further action

Sajid Javid has argued there are “no easy answers” to preventing migrants crossing the Channel, as Tory MPs criticised the Home Secretary’s handling of the problem.

Mr Javid made the comments as he prepared for an emergency meeting with the border and security authorities to discuss further action.

But some senior Conservatives figures accused the cabinet minister of lacking urgency, with some calling for more British patrol vessels to be deployed.

Writing in The Telegraph after cutting his family Safari holiday short to deal with the situation, Mr Javid said: “The reasons behind the increased crossings are complicated, and in many cases outside of our control.”

He added: “Unfortunately this means that there are no easy answers. So our response is focussed both here in the UK and abroad.”

Following a call with his French counterpart, Christophe Castaner, the Home Office said the pair agreed an “enhanced action plan” to be put in place in the coming week.

It includes disrupting organised trafficking gangs and raising awareness among migrants of the dangers of a Channel crossing.

Six more Iranian men were found on a beach near Dover on Sunday morning.

The National Crime Agency said French authorities prevented a further attempt to cross the Channel on Saturday night.

Mr Javid was expected to chair a meeting with senior government officials from the Border Force and the National Crime Agency on Monday morning.

Chris Hogben, from the NCA, said the higher level of Iranian migration was new and that groups would be paying serious organised criminals “quite a bit of money” to get across.

He said his officers were also seeing more migrants organise the crossing themselves, either by buying or stealing a boat, and he expected to see more attempts using that method in the coming weeks.

Mr Javid has come under growing pressure to act, with Labour accusing the Home Office of a “flawed” strategy and one Conservative MP urging Mr Javid to “get a grip”.

Tim Loughton MP, a Tory MP on the home affairs select committee said Mr Javid’s plans lacked detail and a “sense of urgency”.

Charlie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover, said he wanted to work with France to find the safe houses where people were being trafficked to, as well as identify where the traffickers are getting their boats from and stop them setting off for England.

“If we don’t act and stop it now, sooner or later there’s a great risk of a tragedy in the middle of the English Channel,” he said.