A French politician has backed the UK turning around small boats in a bid to get a grip on the Channel migrant crisis.
Philippe Eymery, a councillor in Dunkirk, said Britain should mirror Australia’s hardline policy.
Mr Eymery was commenting on reports by GB News of violent clashes between migrants and police.
He said: “I think the situation in Dunkirk is more bad than I believed. There is a kind of omerta, a kind of lie of the French government.
“And this afternoon I looked on French news websites and saw that one man has been killed, there are four migrants who have been stabbed but I have not read that the French police have been forced to jump back in their beach buggies and retreat.
“I think what we have seen is a kind of a struggle between the migrants and the people smugglers because there are not enough small boats and more people want to go on the small boats and they are fighting together to find a place.
“Maybe some migrants have no money to give to the people smugglers.
“It’s very sad because each time a human is killed or is stabbed in such occurrences it’s sad, and bad news.
“The question is, how to avoid this situation? I myself am amongst those who think we have to consider the way used by the Australian authorities for the last 10 years.
“Without this kind of message and action, the migrants and people smugglers are believing that once they have succeeded in entering one country, they won’t be sent back.”
Pressed on whether he would be in favour of the UK turning boats back, he added: “Yes, for sure.
“I think that the way the Australian government for 10 years has done, it’s a kind of success.
“The number of migrants has been drastically reduced so I think we have to find the same kind of policy.”
Australia has turned back migrant boats under its Operation Sovereign Borders but the policy has come under criticism from refugee charities.
It comes as more than 5,000 migrants have made the dangerous journey to the UK on rubber dinghies so far this year.
