French tactics curb Channel crossings, but UK says many migrants still get through
Police are stopping more small boats before they reach the English Channel, the UK Home Office said on Sunday. But the figures it cited
French police are stopping more small boats before they reach the English Channel, the UK Home Office said on Sunday. But the figures it cited also show how many migrants still manage to get through.
The Home Office said French authorities intercepted 185 potential crossings involving about 4,300 migrants over four weeks this summer, and stopped 12 boats at sea using new tactics. The release came as the government tries to show progress on one of Britain’s most politically charged migration fronts. The problem has not gone away. About 250 migrants arrived in the UK on Monday alone.
Beach chases, knives and pepper spray
Footage released by French police shows officers racing in jeeps across a beach to reach a launch before it can leave. In one clip, once the boat is abandoned, an officer cuts through it with a knife. Migrants can be seen throwing objects at officers, while one officer appears to respond with pepper spray.
The Home Office said the new approach by French forces is becoming more effective. It said the tactics are helping stop launches before they can build speed in shallow water, where interceptions are harder and more dangerous.
That matters because the Channel route remains busy even after a roughly 40% drop in crossings compared with last year. In late July, a record 165 migrants reached Britain in a single boat, a “mega dinghy” about 13 metres long, roughly the size of a standard bus, which Border Security Command was pictured towing after it arrived in Dover.
Pressure on both sides of the Channel
For the UK government, the French figures are evidence that co-operation is working. For critics, they are nowhere near enough. The Conservatives dismissed the announcement as a “joke” and said Channel crossing preventions were down by half over the past year.
The wider debate is not confined to boats. The Home Office itself has said, in separate assessment documents, that more than half of people whose asylum and visa claims are rejected under tightened human rights rules are still expected to remain in the UK. Those documents said the proposed limits on article 8 of the European convention on human rights would lead to another 11,700 claim refusals a year, while 55% of those refused under the reforms would stay in Britain.
That gap between policy and outcome has become a central political fault line. Officials are trying to show tougher enforcement. Lawyers, activists and opposition figures say the system is still failing to match the scale of the crossings, the appeals and the legal routes people use to stay.
The French numbers may be the clearest sign yet that one side of the border is getting more aggressive. But with thousands still landing and 250 arriving in a single day, the Channel remains open enough for smugglers to keep testing it.
