sajid javid
© PA
Tory ministers have ramped up their battle against a small number of migrants crossing the Channel by calling for Navy help.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid wrote to fellow Cabinet minister Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, making the request last night.

It came hours after he visited Dover in a hardline campaign against people risking their lives in dinghies to come to the UK.

More than 100 people, mostly Iranian, have been detained trying to cross the world's busiest shipping lane in boats carrying usually six to 12 people since Christmas Day.

Mr Javid tripled the number of Border Force cutters patrolling the Channel to three after pressure from MPs. But Labour claimed the scale of his public reaction was "whipping up fear".

Yesterday he appeared to suggest no one who crosses the Channel by boat, truck or train is a "genuine asylum seeker" - comments Labour claimed could breach the Geneva Convention.

A Whitehall source told the Mirror HMS Mersey, an offshore patrol vessel, is "available and ready right now" to be deployed.

It is understood the ship is currently on routine operations in waters off the Southern coast of the UK and can be diverted if necessary to migrant operations.

An MOD official said the £20,000-a-day cost should be funded by the Home Office or Treasury if so.

It would represent a significant escalation of Britain's response to the migration issue.

Critics argue the 539 people known to have crossed the Straits in 2018 are still dwarfed by 10,000 who were picked up from the Mediterranean in just two days in 2016.

Two men were arrested last night on suspicion of arranging the illegal movement of migrants into the UK.

A 33-year-old Iranian national and a 24-year-old British man were arrested in Manchester on Wednesday evening.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "Our Armed Forces stand ready to provide additional capacity and expertise to assist the Home Office with the response to migrant crossings.

"Royal Navy ships continue to conduct patrols to protect the integrity of UK territorial waters."