Kent County Council has announced it will be taking in unaccompanied asylum seeker children again.

The authority was forced to tell the Home Office it was no longer able to look after any more children in June of this year.

But today, the leader of the council Roger Gough has said this will begin again but warned the current level of arrivals makes it unlikely the authority will be able to safely accommodate all new arrivals.

Cllr Gough said: “We are in very advanced discussions with the Home Office to develop a safe and sustainable solution for Kent to support those who arrive in the county.

"This reflects the realities of the government strategy for the distribution of UASC around all local authorities in the UK through the National Transfer Scheme, without our services being overwhelmed by the numbers of new arrivals.

“In June this year we informed the Home Office that we no longer had the capacity to safely look after newly arrived UASC from the port of Dover because of the strain on our Children’s Services, given the number of arrivals. Similar action was taken in August 2020 for the same reason.

“We remain of the view that the only long-term solution to caring for and distributing UASC fairly and safely is for the Home Secretary to use her power under the 2016 Immigration Act to make participation in the National Transfer Scheme mandatory for all local authorities and will keep all legal options open to pursue that if necessary.”

“We are in very advanced discussions with the Home Office to develop a safe and sustainable solution..."

The news comes the day after Home Secretary Priti Patel met with her French counterpart in a crunch meeting where the pair were said to have had a 'constructive' meeting.

She's also announced plans to use 'pushback' tactics to prevent people from reaching Dover from France.

Ms Patel has ordered officials to rewrite maritime law to allow boats carrying asylum seekers to be intercepted in the Channel, and Border Force officers will be trained in the new tactics.

After turning the boats around, officials will then contact the French coastguard to inform it that vessels in French territorial waters are in need of rescue.

According to the Home Office, 785 people arrived in the UK on Monday after making the journey from France in small boats, with several young children and a baby among them.

This is the second highest daily total of the year, following the single-day record of 828 people set last month.

The crossings continued on Tuesday and Wednesday during the better weather conditions, with boats arriving at Dover and others being towed on to beaches along the south coast.

Earlier this year, the UK and France announced an agreement to more than double the number of police patrolling French beaches, the second pledge of its kind in a year, in a bid to stop small boats from leaving France.

As part of the deal, the Government pledged to give France £54 million to support its efforts to stop small boat crossings.

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