Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, to what extent the Royal Navy plans to increase naval patrols in the Mediterranean to respond to the increase in attempted illegal crossings by migrants from North Africa.

Penny Mordaunt

We are encouraging the EU counter-migration mission, Operation SOPHIA, to increase its role in tackling irregular migration across the Central Mediterranean. Indeed, earlier this week the EU Foreign Affairs Council agreed on the need to evaluate options for increasing SOPHIA’s impact on human trafficking networks. This may include broader security support to the legitimate Libyan authorities, for example through potential capacity building. The UK currently has HMS ENTERPRISE deployed in support of Operation SOPHIA, and although we have no immediate plans to increase naval patrols in the Mediterranean, we are keeping our contribution under review as the operation’s requirements change.