Andy Burnham dismisses using Royal Navy to block migrant boats - 'not a serious idea'

Andy Burnham has suggested that using the Royal Navy to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats is not a "serious" idea. Reform UK MP for Newark, Robert Jenrick, told the Prime Minister in the House of Commons yesterday to “declare a national security emergency, because we have a gaping hole in our borders right now”. He also called for the Government to “send the Royal Navy in to the Channel and shut down the entire asylum farce once and for all”.

Mr Burnham replied: “I can remember a time when [Mr Jenrick] stood up in this House and made serious proposals. Sadly, not today. If he checked the facts recently, he will see that small boat crossings are coming down under this Government.

"When he was immigration minister, what did they do? They went up and up and up.” Mr Jenrick later posted on X: "Andy Burnham has his head in the sand."

Recorded Channel crossings are at their lowest since 2021, with 20,935 arrivals so far this year. This is down 42% on this time last year (36,244), and 19% below the figure at this stage in 2023 (25,931), when Mr Jenrick was the Conservative immigration minister.

Mr Jenrick had earlier told Talk: “Deploy the Royal Marines in to the Channel. If they need to use lethal force, then they’ll be able to do so. That’s obviously not what we want to see happen.

“We want to see these individuals picked up off the boats in a sensible and reasonable way and taken straight back to France. And I think the problem would come to an end very, very quickly, you know, within a matter of days.”

The Labour Party's Chairwoman, Bridget Phillipson, described the proposal as “disgusting and illegal”. She added: “Our armed forces are not going to start opening fire on unarmed civilians, and Reform are dragging their own reputations and credibility into the gutter by suggesting it.”

It comes after a Falklands War veteran caused fury by saying small boats carrying migrants to the UK should be shot. Major-General Julian Thompson, 92, a former commander of 3 Commando Brigade, commanding Operation Sutton, the attack at San Carlos Water in May 1982, on the ground.

"I would shoot them," Maj. Gen. Thompson said in a YouTube documentary produced by Steven Edginton. "We could stop them tomorrow, if we really had the guts. I'd shoot them, sorry, but I would," he added. "We've allowed it to happen. We're wet [...] We've allowed it to happen."