Keir Starmer with Emmanuel Macron (Image: Getty)
The death toll in the Channel has risen again after smugglers packed more than 80 people into a boat bound for Britain.
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The body of a woman was pulled from the wreckage of a dinghy after it began to deflate in the middle of the crossing.
The migrants had refused help from the French authorities before the tragedy, it is understood. They managed to launch from a beach near Calais, it is understood.
At least 21 people have died attempting to cross the Channel this year, including six in the past week.
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The French are under intense pressure to stop more Channel crossings (Image: Getty)
Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron want to "reset" the UK-France relationship (Image: Getty)
The deaths will heap further pressure on the British and French governments to end the crisis, which is becoming more deadly as smugglers rely on bigger boats.
Armed Forces minister Luke Pollard hinted London and Paris could conduct more joint operations in the Channel, declaring stopping the boats “does mean policing…in a different way than we’ve seen before”.
A British Border Force vessel – BF Ranger – took migrants back to France for the first time after a rescue operation on Wednesday.
Asked if there had been a change in policy, denied by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday, Mr Pollard said: “Well, I think I welcome the effort by Border Force to make sure that we are tackling that cross-Channel smuggling operation that's going on.
“What we've set out as a new government is a new approach to how we secure our borders.
“That's not only with a new secure Border Command, but importantly, it's more cooperation with our European friends as well, because we're not going to be able to deal with this unless we get increased cooperation from our French friends in particular.
“And that means closer cooperation with a new secure Border Command, Border Force and French authorities. And that does mean policing the Channel in a different way than we've seen before.”
Asked if Border Force has now been instructed to utilise better relations between London and Paris and take more migrants back to France, Mr Pollard said: “Well, we'll be working out the full policy and how it works. I'm afraid it's not as simple as taking every single boat back to French shore.
“But what we have seen is French ships intercepting some of those dinghies travelling across the Channel and returning to France.
“We'd like to see more effort put in place like this, so that we're stopping that illegal trade.
“But the best way of doing that is not only that enhanced cooperation that I've just set out.
“It's going after the criminal gangs that are profiting from this horrendous trade.
“And the best way of doing that is making sure that the UK and France are on exactly the same page, with the same ways of working and that is the steps that the new Home Secretary has already started taking.”
The joint operation follows months of diplomacy between London and Paris, this newspaper understands.
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Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak raised the plan – codenamed Operation Windspire - with French President Emmanuel Macron during a bilateral call several months ago.
Under the proposal, British vessels could enter French waters and rescue migrants if they were in distress.
The plan was designed to minimise the threat of people dying in the Channel and the Home Office had also drawn up plans to rent a new rescue ship from Poland.
The agreement with France was conditional on confidentiality, the Daily Express can reveal.
Some 86 people were crammed onto the inflatable boat which sank in the early hours of Friday morning.
But five people fell into the water, triggering a huge emergency operation.
A French emergency services source said: “A mayday call was made soon after midnight, but at first those on board did not want to be rescued.
“Navy personnel aboard the patrol board Cormoran rescued five people from the sea to begin with, but people still on board the deflating dinghy were also in a lot of trouble.
“There was an inanimate person among them, and efforts were made to revive her, but she was soon declared dead.
“The boat was massively overloaded, and sea conditions were very choppy.”
The latest death comes after one person died and 71 others were rescued in an incident off the coast of northern France on Wednesday, and four migrants died in the English Channel on July 12.
Some 317 migrants arrived in the UK in six boats after crossing the Channel on Thursday, according to Home Office figures.
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It brings the provisional total of migrants arriving via the English Channel in 2024 so far to 15,076.
This is 9% higher than the number recorded this time last year (13,774).
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