A CABINET minister today urged officials to be “very vigorous” with asylum claims from Albania after a group of 18 suspected migrants from the eastern European country were rescued off the Kent coast.
GETTYThe Tory minister, a leading Brexit campaigner, issued the demand following the rescue of 20 people from an inflatable boat that sank in the English Channel on Saturday.
Two British men were among the group saved by the UK Coastguard, which also included two children and a woman.
Border Force staff later removed another boat from a Kent beach as part of their investigation.
The incident has sparked fears Britain’s coastline are being left unpoliced with the UK facing the biggest ever onslaught on people smugglers.
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Mr Grayling added his support for a zero-tolerance approach to possible asylum claims by arguing Albanians should be treated as economic migrants because their country is an official candidate to join an enlarged EU.
Answering questions after a speech in Westminster on the risks of staying in the EU, the Epsom and Ewell MP said: "I would want us to be very vigorous about any applicant for asylum from Albania.
"Albania is a candidate country of the EU and unless there is an extremely individual and particular reason for granting asylum for someone from Albania then I would want to have an asylum system that treated those people as economic migrants."
I would want us to be very vigorous about any applicant for asylum from Albania.
Highlighting concerns the English Channel could see thousands of migrant deaths as continues to occur in the Mediterranean, Mr Farage said yesterday: “The spectacle of boats crossing the Channel must be avoided.
“If we do not make it absolutely clear, we are likely to find the English Channel becoming a mortuary as economic migrants take to its unpredictable waters in unseaworthy vessels.
"We can all applaud the work done to save lives by the coastguard, RNLI and the border agency in this instance.
“But with thousands of miles of coastline, and severely restricted resources, it would be grossly irresponsible and inhumane if we gave the impression that coming to the UK by boat would lead to asylum or permanent leave to remain.
"We have all seen the horrors of the Mediterranean, with thousands crossing and hundreds dying, we cannot allow that to happen of the shores of Kent and Sussex."
A Number 10 spokesman said the increased security at Calais, where thousands of migrants are camped out, had led some to attempt to use "more dangerous routes" to reach the UK.
He said: "We take every necessary action to protect our border security and will continue to do so. The important thing is that our approach is intelligence-based.
“So we have worked with the French government at Calais to secure the border there and since we put security measures in place we have seen a small number of migrants trying to use more dangerous routes to get to the UK."
New maritime powers came into effect today which will make it easier for Border Force officials to patrol the UK's coastline and tackle the smuggling of illegal immigrants into the country.
Border Force officers will have the power to board boats and to arrest people facilitating illegal migration.
Downing Street said additional vessels aimed at protecting Britain’s coastline would become operational in the coming months, but full deployment of the new boats will not take place until the end of next year.Just three Border Force cutter vessels are currently being used to patrol the UK's coastline and help tackle the smuggling of illegal immigrants into the UK.
Around half a dozen new, smaller patrol vessels are being brought in to help intercept efforts to smuggle dangerous weapons, drugs and migrants into the country, but they will not be fully deployed until the end of 2017.
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