A UK border force ship has returned Channel migrants to France for the first time, it was revealed today.
Patrols off the coast of #Gravelines in northern France saw people in the water yesterday, sparking a rescue operation aided by the British Border Force and RNLI.
Some 59 people were brought on board the French ship PSP Cormoran, including an unconscious person who could not be resuscitated by the medical team.
A British vessel, the Border Force Ranger, also saved 13 people from the water, and both ships took the group of people to Calais.
It is believed to be the first time that a British vessel has picked up migrants in French waters and been asked to return them to France.
However, government sources told MailOnline there is ’no change of policy or approach’ and it was ’just the way the operation played out’.
The incident emerged as Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron put on a show of friendship at the European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace.