Today's top media story is an update on migrant boat crossings, focusing on returns to Europe.
Channel migrants
Further to widespread coverage yesterday (05 August) on migrants making the journey across the Channel on small boats, the Independent reports that they could be sent back to continental Europe.
The paper reports that three children were among a total of 47 people intercepted by Border Force since Saturday, all of whom gave their nationalities as Iranian or Iraqi. This includes a further incident yesterday, in which 20 migrants trying to cross the Channel were rescued when their boat ran out of fuel.
Maddy Allen, from the Help Refugees charity, told the paper that those who make the journey are removed from the UK and scattered across Europe under the Dublin Regulation. She raised concerns that those who are returned to France then make further attempts to cross the Channel, especially migrants with links to the UK.
A Home Office spokesperson said:
Anyone crossing the Channel in a small boat is taking a huge risk with their life and the lives of their children.
Since December, two cutters have returned to UK waters from overseas operations, we have agreed a joint action plan with France and increased activity out of the Joint Coordination and Information Centre in Calais.
It is an established principle that those in need of protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and since January more than 50 people who arrived illegally in the UK in small boats have been returned to Europe.