Ministers warned against ‘push back’ suggestion for migrant boats

Any attempts to “push” migrant boats back to French waters risks potentially fatal capsizings, a former home secretary has warned amid calls for the UK to broker an agreement with France. Ministers under pressure to act over record numbers of the perilous crossings are considering using Royal Navy and Border Force vessels to block the small boats in the English Channel. But Jack Straw, who was a Labour home secretary, said any move modelled on Australia’s controversial “push back” approach deployed against migrants from Indonesia...