Latest news with #FrenchGovernment
Times
5 hours ago
- General
- Times
UK calls for French crackdown on shallow-water migrant crossings
Britain is pressing France to 'swiftly' close a legal loophole that prevents police from apprehending migrant boats in shallow waters amid growing frustration in government at French inaction. The home secretary told MPs it was 'disgraceful and unacceptable' that more than 1,195 migrants had been able to cross the Channel in 18 boats on Saturday, marking a new daily record high for crossings this year. The French authorities only prevented 184 migrants from making the crossing on Saturday, despite agreeing in February to amend laws to allow police to intercept boats in shallow waters. Yvette Cooper said that she had been in touch with the French interior minister urging him to speed up the change in approach, saying there needed to be 'stronger action' to prevent crossings. 'The gangs are increasingly operating a model where boats are launched from further along the coast and people climb in from the water, exploiting French rules that have stopped their police taking any action in the sea,' she said. 'This is completely unacceptable. The previous government raised this with France for years, but to no avail, and I have raised it with the French government since the summer. 'The French interior minister and the French cabinet have now agreed their rules need to change. A French maritime review is looking at what new operational tactics they will use, and we are urging France to complete this review and implement the changes as swiftly as possible.' British law enforcement agencies are concerned that criminal gangs exploited the fact that French police were focused on the Champions League final in Paris on Saturday. There was widespread disorder in the French capital. French police guidelines currently prevent officers from intervening offshore unless it is to rescue passengers in distress. In practice, the guidelines mean that officers can stop boats leaving the beach by puncturing them but may do nothing once they are in the water unless migrants call for help. In recent years, traffickers have exploited the rules by asking migrants to wade waist-high into the Channel, where they are picked up by dinghies launched from further afield, often from inland canals. The dinghies are piloted by smuggling gang operatives who haul migrants on board with police watching on from the beach. In February, Bruno Retailleau, the French interior minister, indicated that he wanted a change in police doctrine to enable officers to intervene in the water up to 300 metres from the coast. 'We have to review our organisation so that we can board these boats … arriving to pick up migrants,' he said. Le Figaro, the French newspaper, said ministry officials were still working on what are being termed the 'feet in the water' guidelines to implement the policy. However, Le Marin, the French maritime daily, said the proposed change of doctrine had met with fierce opposition, including from local police officers. Among the concerns are logistical issues such as whether officers are safe wearing body armour in the water and how to protect their weapons in the water. Sir Keir Starmer said that the public had 'every right to be angry about small boat crossings'. He claimed that hundreds of boats and engines had been 'seized', raids on illegal working were up and 'almost 30,000 people' had been returned. 'We are ramping up our efforts to smash the people smuggling gangs at source,' he said. However Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, described Starmer's words as 'rubbish', while Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said this year had been the 'worst in history' for illegal immigrants crossing the Channel. 'The government's laughable claims to 'smash the gangs' lies in tatters. They're not smashing gangs, they're smashing records,' he said.
The Independent
15 hours ago
- General
- The Independent
Starmer issues warning after record number of small boat channel crossings in one day
Sir Keir Starmer has reiterated that''nobody should be crossing the channel', a day after a record number of migrants made the journey. Taking questions after he announced the Strategic Defence Review in Glasgow, the prime minister was grilled by GB News' Katherine Foster on his 'failure' to keep the British public 'safe in the English channel'. He said that 'nobody should be making that journey' and that the UK is working closely with France and other nations to 'take further action' to prevent illegal crossings. On Sunday (1 June), more than 1,100 migrants arrived in the UK, the highest number recorded on a single day so far in 2025.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- General
- Al Jazeera
Macron: Israel risks sanctions if Gaza blockade continues
NewsFeed Macron: Israel risks sanctions if Gaza blockade continues French President Emmanuel Macron warned that France will have to toughen its stance on Israel if it continues to block humanitarian aid to Gaza. He urged Israel to allow food, water, and medicine, and reiterated France's support for a two-state solution.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Eutelsat in Talks to Double France's Stake in €1.5 Billion Raise
Eutelsat Communications SA, the European satellite operator working to rival Elon Musk's Starlink, is in talks with investors to raise €1.5 billion in a deal that would more than double the French government's stake to 30%, people familiar with the matter said. Eutelsat has been in talks with the French government, investor Fonds Strategique de Participations, shipping company CMA CGM and the UK government about participating in the fundraising, the people said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The funds would help build out Eutelsat's low-Earth orbit satellite network, they said.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
France stops fewer Channel migrants, despite Sunak agreement
France is intercepting fewer Channel migrants than at any time since the first small boats arrived, despite a £480 million funding deal with Britain to help stop crossings, figures suggest. It has stopped 8,347 asylum seekers from reaching UK waters in small boats so far this year, while 13,167 have so far crossed – meaning that just over 38 per cent have been intercepted. That is down from an estimated 45 per cent last year, 46.9 per cent in 2023 and 42.4 per cent in 2022, the record year when 45,774 people reached the UK and 33,791 were prevented from doing so by France. The fall in interceptions comes despite a three-year, £480 million Anglo-French deal agreed by Rishi Sunak in March 2023 to double officers patrolling beaches to 800, set up a joint command centre and a detention centre to stop migrants leaving France. It coincides with a change in tactics by people-smugglers, who have used 'taxi boats' that remain in the water and collect migrants from beaches in northern France. The strategy allows smugglers to evade capture, forcing police to conduct rescue operations rather than arrest the perpetrators. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has also suggested that the number of crossings – up 30 per cent this year on the same point last year – have surged because of the higher number of good weather 'red days' so far. Ministers believe a series of legal changes in France and Germany will stem the flow of migrants. The French government has amended laws so police can stop boats at sea for the first time. It will enable police to use their own boats in shallow waters to take on people-smugglers carrying migrants in overloaded vessels. French ministers are also planning to restore the offence of an 'illegal stay' in France, which would allow the police to arrest migrants and smugglers before they attempt a crossing. Currently, migrants who attempt to cross the Channel are only considered to have committed an offence when they launch the boat. Germany, where many migrant boats are stored before being deployed to the French coast, is also tightening its laws to make it easier to prosecute those helping to smuggle migrants to the UK. Facilitating people-smuggling is not currently technically illegal in Germany if it is to a third country outside the EU, which includes the UK following Brexit. Under the new agreement, Germany has pledged to make the activity a clear criminal offence. 'France is in breach of international law' A Home Office spokesman said: 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. 'The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die as long as they pay, and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice. That is why this Government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage. 'Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders.' However, Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: 'France is in breach of its international law obligations to stop illegal migration. Stopping under 40 per cent of illegal immigrants attempting to cross is pathetic. Even the 40 per cent stopped are simply let go by the French, and they just attempt to cross the next day instead.' Tony Smith, a former Border Force director general, said: 'The figures on French preventions are disappointing given the investment we are making in resourcing their activities there. 'Promises to introduce maritime interventions even in shallow waters have come to nothing – and allowing boats to continue their journeys even after corpses are removed from what is a potential crime scene is totally unacceptable. 'Also, the French policy of handing out life jackets is a clear signal that they have little interest in preventing asylum seekers from putting their lives at risk by crossing the Channel. 'On the contrary, once the boats have launched, their policy is to do all they can to facilitate their passage to UK waters rather than rescue them and take them back to France, where their safety could be assured.'
