Ghana dismisses reports it could host processing centre for Channel migrants

Ghana on Tuesday rejected taking Channel migrants from the UK, as figures revealed that crossings this month so far are treble those for the whole of last January.

The Ghanian foreign ministry issued a statement to "categorically" deny reports it was in talks to host an offshore processing centre at which migrants could be held while their asylum claims are considered.

It said it had not engaged with the UK on any such plan and "does not intend to consider any such operation in the future".

In an allusion to the Government's "Operation Red Meat" populist policies to woo back voters, the Ghanians reported the plans as "Operation Dead Meat".

Ghana said it had previously "debunked" similar reports linking it to processing centres last September. It is the second country after Albania to have rejected such plans, with the news coming as Tory MPs called plans to call in the Navy "operation dog's dinner".

More than 800 migrants have reached the UK this month, compared with 223 last January. A further 80 arrived on Tuesday despite freezing and foggy conditions, including 30 who landed on Dungeness beach in Kent. Last Thursday, 271 people reached the UK in 10 boats - more than during the whole of last January.

Migrants including a child are brought into Dover by Border Force personnel Credit: Steve Finn/Steve Finn Photography

The surge comes after The Telegraph disclosed that Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, has been warned that as many as 65,000 migrants could cross the Channel this year in a worst case scenario.

Boris Johnson has ordered the military to take charge of stemming the migrant surge, but the plans were lashed by Sir Edward Leigh, an ex-minister, in the Commons on Tuesday. Sir Edward asked what the point was in appointing a Navy Admiral to help Border Force be a "more efficient taxi service".

"The migrants will know that now 'we have got the Royal Navy going to pick us up and we will be taken safety to the UK, and we will be put in a hotel and we will never ever be sent home'. This is just an embarrassment," he said.

Philip Hollobone, a Conservative MP, mocked suggestions that the initiative was part of the Government's "Operation Red Meat" to woo back the public with populist policies. "This isn't Operation Red Meat - it's Operation Dog's Dinner," he said.

"This is going to incentivise people traffickers - they'll see the Royal Navy ship on the horizon and they'll say 'point your dinghy in that direction, you only need to get halfway' and the Royal Navy will pick them up. The only way this will work is if the Royal Navy intercepts asylum seekers and returns them back to France."

Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chairman of the defence committee, warned: "There is a real danger of mission creep here, with further naval assets being sucked into this challenge."

Mark Francois, a Conservative former minister, welcomed bringing in the military but said: "If they are not going to be involved in 'pushback' and they are not going to deploy sonic weapons, what are they actually going to do?"

James Heappey, the defence minister, said the plans were "still in development", adding that the Navy would probably be playing a command and control role rather than intercepting migrants.

Last year, a record 28,381 migrants crossed the Channel, compared to 8,410 in 2020. Analysis by The Telegraph shows that an average of 3,749 reached the UK every month in the second half of 2021 as the pace picked up. If that trend continued, it would mean 45,000 migrants this year.

Tuesday's arrivals were wrapped in blankets as they were accompanied to the Port of Dover by Border Force officials after battling freezing conditions in the Channel, with the first group thought to have arrived in the UK shortly before 4am.

A further 30 people were brought to shore by RNLI lifeboats in Dungeness at 1pm, while about 15 were accompanied to the Port of Dover by Border Force officials minutes later. Among them were several small children, including a young girl carrying a pink rabbit cuddly toy.

Several children were among 30 migrants brought to shore by the RNLI in Dungeness on Tuesday Credit: Steve Finn

The latest migrant arrivals come after a Sudanese man in his 20s fell overboard and drowned while attempting the crossing last Friday. The fatality was believed to be the first in the Dover Strait this year, after 27 people drowned in the biggest single loss of life in the Channel last November.

Ms Patel joined forces on Monday with Nancy Faeser, Germany's interior minister, in a bid to tackle illegal immigration, saying: "We agreed on the importance of close co-operation between Germany and the UK on joint security and migration challenges.

"Recent tragic events in the Channel serve as another stark reminder of the extreme dangers people face when entering the UK through illegal routes, often at the hands of criminal gangs. Countries across Europe must come together to respond."

Tom Pursglove MP, the minister for justice and tackling illegal migration, said: "This Government is reforming our approach to illegal entry to the UK and asylum by making the tough decisions to end the overt exploitation of our laws and its impact on UK taxpayers."