French stopping even fewer small boats since deal with Starmer
‘Furious’ Home Office demands tougher tactics after claims smugglers are using images of police standing around to advertise services
French police are preventing fewer migrants from crossing the Channel since Sir Keir Starmer struck a deal with President Emmanuel Macron to tackle small boats, The Telegraph can reveal.
Just over a quarter (28.7 per cent) of migrants’ attempts to make the crossing have been stopped by French officers since the agreement was implemented in August.
This contrasts with the 38 per cent of migrant crossings the French prevented in an equivalent 13-week period before the “one in, one out” deal was struck with France, according to an analysis of official data.
As part of the agreement, the French government pledged to adopt new tactics in which, for the first time, elite officers would intervene at sea, within 300 metres of the beaches, to intercept the people smugglers’ dinghies before they crossed the Channel.
However, the tactics have been delayed because of officers’ concerns that they could put the lives of the migrants at risk by stopping the flimsy boats at sea.
Amid growing frustration among UK officials at the delays, people smugglers are now using videos of French police doing little to stop migrants crossing the Channel to advertise their services on social media.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said the French performance was “lamentable”.
“Preventing only a quarter of embarkation attempts is pathetic. No wonder migrants are using videos of French police standing around to illustrate how easy it is to cross,” he said.
“I saw this myself when I went to the Calais area in the summer, with French police ushering illegal immigrants onto a public bus towards embarkation points. We have seen 2,000 illegal immigrants cross in a four-day period recently. The Government has lost control of our borders.”
The figures show the French prevented 8,521 crossings in the 13 weeks before the deal, but this fell to 4,635 in the 13 weeks afterwards. By contrast, there was a smaller fall in the number of arrivals in the UK, down from 13,920 in the 13 weeks before the deal to 11,518 in the 13 weeks afterwards.
Jim McConalogue, chief executive of the Civitas think tank, which first identified the trend, said: “Given the purpose of the deal and its deterrent effect, we should ask questions as to why, in the presence of a small decrease in arrivals following the deal, we are looking at an over 45 per cent drop in migrants being stopped.”
The Telegraph: continue reading
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