UK tested Channel ‘blockade’ to deter migrants, leak reveals

Exclusive: official document shows tactic based on Australian ‘turn back the boats’ policy has been trialled

Trials have taken place to test a blockade in the Channel similar to Australia’s controversial “turn back the boats” tactic, according to official documents seen by the Guardian.

The documents, produced in mid-September and marked “official” and “sensitive”, summarise advice from officials who were asked by Downing Street to consider “possible options for negotiating an offshore asylum processing facility similar to the Australian model in Papua New Guinea and Nauru”.

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