THE government dropped its pushback policy after the Ministry of Defence determined that the tactic would be a “breach of the saving life at sea convention,” it was revealed today.

The widely condemned policy to turn around small boats in the Channel, floated by Home Secretary Priti Patel earlier this year, was abandoned in April — but few details were given as to why it was dropped.

On Tuesday, Armed Forces Minister James Heappey shed light on the reason behind the decision, telling MPs that the MoD had concluded through trials that conditions in the English Channel would have made the tactic “operationally unviable.”