Over the past week, we have seen a sharp increase in the number of migrants attempting to cross the Channel in small boats.

As Home Secretary, this rise has been deeply concerning.

The English Channel contains some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, the weather conditions are often treacherous and the inflatable boats being used are woefully ill-equipped to make such a dangerous journey.

The migrants who choose to make the journey are putting their lives in grave danger.

It is for these reasons that I have declared the situation a major incident and have stepped up the UK’s response.

On Sunday I held an important call with my French counterpart Christophe Castaner to discuss how we can increase our joint work to address the issue.

We both agreed to ramp-up cooperation and the French will be launching an enhanced action plan this week which will focus on increasing the already strong collaborative measures around prevention, monitoring and patrols, with operations being run out of the newly opened UK-France Coordination and Information Centre in Coquelles. We also agreed to meet in person in January to assess the situation and further extend our joint working.