A minister swiped at France for failing to stem Channel migrants today amid mounting pressure on Priti Patel.
Business minister Paul Scully complained that agreements with Paris have not been 'effected' as the backlash from Tories gathered pace.
A record 4,000 arrivals have made the perilous crossing this month, including vulnerable children, and relations with France have been increasingly strained.
Despite the UK pledging £50million to bolster patrols and other counter-measures the numbers show little sign of abating and the Home Secretary has been the target of frustration from her own MPs.
A task force set up by Boris Johnson to draw up a new strategy is said to be looking at housing asylum seekers in army barracks rather than hotels.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay has been told to drive policies across government, and is expected to chair the first meeting of the group early this week.
The initiative will consider the accommodation idea, the possibility of cutting benefits, if return agreements can be strengthened as well as 'offshoring' to third countries while claims are processed, according to the Daily Telegraph.
More than 24,700 people have arrived in the UK so far this year after making the Channel crossing in small boats – almost three times the number there were in 2020.
Labour has accused Home Secretary Priti Patel of 'comprehensively failing' to stem the flow.
Mr Scully told Sky News: 'We've made an agreement with France which, unfortunately, is not being effected well enough at the moment, and that's what we need to go back and do.'
Mr Scully continued: 'One of the things we've got to do is stop the pull factors, we've got to stop the reason why people are travelling through safe countries, through France, to come to the UK.
'Actually, we've got to make sure they are treated well in France, that in the first place, that they are claiming asylum - that's what the rules are, that's what the laws are.'
He added: 'While they (migrants) can see there is a pathway across the Channel because the border isn't being enforced well enough on the land side, on the French side, and while we're not allowed to treat illegal immigrants differently from legal immigrants, then those pull factors remain - that's what we're tackling and trying to tackle at full speed.'
A record 4,000 arrivals have made the perilous crossing this month, including vulnerable children, and relations with France have been increasingly strained (pictured, arrivals at Dover last week)
Home Secretary Priti Patel has been the target of increasing frustration from her own MPs
Business minister Paul Scully complained that agreements with Paris have not been 'effected' as the backlash from Tories gathered pace
In a sign of the difficulty in coping with the numbers of arrivals, Channel migrants are being bussed 500 miles to Scotland for processing after arriving on beaches in Kent as the system struggles under a record number of crossings.
Dozens have taken the eight-hour journey to Dungavel immigration detention centre in Strathaven, South Lanarkshire in the last few weeks, according to a pressure group.
Until now, migrants have been processed in Home Office short-term holding facilities an hour or two from Dover.
Dungavel is an immigration removal
