Priti Patel’s plan to end Channel crossings in disarray as Navy threatens to ‘walk away’

Official figures reveal that number of refugees crossing in small boats has doubled since military brought in

The Royal Navy is threatening to walk away" from Boris Johnson and Priti Patel's plan to stem the number of boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel as official data shows how spectacularly the policy has backfired.

Defence chiefs are said to be fed up with trying to enact the prime minister and home secretary's rapidly imploding plan of using the military to control small boats in the Channel.