Boris Johnson offered to work with France to “go further and faster” to deal with the crossings of small boats and prevent a repeat of “the appalling tragedy” in the English Channel that left 27 dead.

the Prime Minister wrote to the president Emmanuel macron and outlined five actions that he believes both parties should take “as soon as possible.”

Johnson’s letter comes after 27 people: 17 men, seven women, and two teenagers and a girl. died Wednesday near Calais trying to cross the English Channel into the UK on an unstable ship.

The PM’s five-point plan includes:

• Joint patrols to prevent immigrant boats from leaving French beaches
• Use of more advanced technologies such as sensors and radars
• Carry out reciprocal maritime patrols in the territorial waters of each nation and use aerial surveillance
• “Deepen the work” of the Joint Intelligence Unit and ensure better intelligence sharing to lead to more arrests and prosecutions.
• Commit to “work right away” to conclude a bilateral return agreement between Paris and London, as well as discussions on an agreement between the UK and the EU.

“If those who come to this country were returned quickly, the incentive for people to put their lives in the hands of traffickers would be drastically reduced,” Johnson said.

“It would be the biggest step we can take together to reduce the attractiveness of northern France and break the economic model of criminal gangs.

“I am confident that by taking these steps and leveraging our existing cooperation, we can address illegal migration and prevent more families from suffering the devastating loss we saw yesterday. “

The prime minister said that after speaking with the French president below Wednesday’s tragedy “I know that President Macron recognizes, as I do, the urgency of the situation we both face.”

Interior Minister Priti Patel will meet French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin this weekend to discuss the migration crisis, as well as his counterparts from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

In his letter to Mr. Macron, Mr. Johnson said he was willing to “reclassify this meeting as a summit at the level of leaders or to organize further bilateral discussions with you or your colleagues.”

Ms Patel and her French counterpart spoke by phone Thursday to “present plans for further collaboration and innovation to stop these deadly crossovers.”

Officials from the Interior Ministry and law enforcement will be in Paris on Friday to “intensify joint cooperation and intelligence sharing.”

Patel, who is under pressure on the issue after pledging in August 2020 to make the English Channel crossing route “unsustainable,” also renewed an offer to send British officers to patrol French beaches.

The Home Secretary told the Commons earlier There is no silver bullet “ to face the crosses.

“It’s about tackling long-term pull factors, crushing criminal gangs that treat people like merchandise, and attacking supply chains,” he said.

Macron said he was asking the UK for more help.

“We are going to ask the British for extra help because all these men and women don’t want to stay in France,” he said.

“We tell them they can obviously do it, and there are centers in Calais and Dunkirk that they can go to, but we will actually strengthen their rescue at sea.”

Natacha Bouchart, the mayor of Calais, blamed the British for the crisis and called on Johnson to “take responsibility.”

“The British government is to blame. I think Boris Johnson, for a year and a half, has cynically chosen to blame France, ”he said, according to French media.

And Franck Dhersin, vice president for transport for the northern Hauts-de-France region, said the “mob bosses” who run the smuggling networks live in the UK and should be stopped.

Wednesday’s loss of life is the worst of the migration crisis, which has seen the number of people arriving in the UK by sea rise from 8,417 in 2020 to more than 25,000 so far this year.

New figures from the Home Office show that UK asylum applications are at their highest level in nearly 20 years, with more than 37,500 applications submitted in the year to September.

A government minister revealed last week that only five people were returned to Europe after crossing the sea in small boats.

Evictions as a whole, not just for people crossing the English Channel, are at an all-time low.

During the year to June 2021, they decreased to 2,910, less than half the previous year. The government blamed the decline on the pandemic.