04-06-2025
France finally agrees to intercept migrant boats
France has pledged to come up with a plan to intercept migrant 'taxi boats' at sea for the first time.
French interior ministry sources said that within the next six weeks boats within 300 metres of the beaches will be targeted to stop them leaving for the UK loaded with migrants.
The strategy aims to be ready for the Franco-British summit, which begins on July 8, when Emmanuel Macron, the French president, will travel to London for a state visit.
France is expanding its naval forces with six new patrol boats that will not only rescue migrants but could also intercept the ' taxi boats ' before they leave for the UK.
The first of the boats, the 46-metre long Rozel, which is capable of carrying 20 paramilitary police officers, known as gendarmes, has already been put to sea.
The move comes after Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, this week demanded the French start intercepting migrant boats at sea 'as swiftly as possible' after a record 1,195 migrants reached the UK in 19 dinghies on Saturday. It took the total so far this year to 14,812, the highest on record.
There has been growing frustration at the apparent foot dragging by the French who so far this year have stopped fewer than 40 per cent of the boats, the lowest proportion on record, despite a three-year £480 million Anglo-French deal to combat the crossings.
Ms Cooper wants French border police and gendarmes to intercept the taxi boats not only in the shallow waters as they leave the beaches but also when they make their way from rivers and inland waterways to pick up the migrants. With heatwaves forecast this summer, there are concerns of a further record migrant surge.
Until now, the French have refused to intervene in the water because they claim maritime laws prevent them from taking action that could put lives at sea at risk. But French government sources said ministers overseeing migration policy had given the green light to do so while 'respecting' the 'law of the sea'.
A French interior ministry source said: 'We are aware of the high stakes involved in interventions at sea and of the need to adapt our doctrine of action.
'Today, our intervention can only take place to rescue a boat already at sea, in particular because of the criminal liability issues associated with any interception carried out for any other reason.
'We would like to change this framework so that we can operate in shallow waters, up to 300 metres from the coast, and thus intercept 'taxi boats', while respecting the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, known as the Montego Bay Convention.
'The Interministerial Committee for Immigration Control (CiCI) has mandated the General Secretariat for the Sea (SGMer), which co-ordinates the State's action at sea, to draw up a proposal by the summer to change this.'
The source said the government's objective was to have 'shared guidelines' ready for the summit in July, under an agreement which explicitly confirmed 'for the first time, the need for action to prevent irregular crossings of the Channel'.
A 'compagnie de Marche' of specialist enforcement officers is expected to play a key part in the interceptions.
Officials are still working on the practicalities of any operations, including whether they should be armed and wearing body armour when they engage the boats.
They anticipate they could face a violent backlash from the migrants and people smugglers. On Saturday, two gendarmes were injured when migrants stoned them as they tried to stop a boat from setting sail.
The strategy has been funded from the £480 million deal, with £7 million of the existing funds redirected towards paying for extra law enforcement and intelligence officers.
There is added urgency to get the strategy under way after the Met Office forecast a hotter than average summer.
Home Office data, published on Tuesday, suggested good weather had contributed to the surge in migrants crossing so far this year.
According to the data, there were 60 so-called red days between Jan 1 and April 30 this year, when factors such as wind speed, wave height and the likelihood of rain meant crossings were classed as likely or highly likely. Some 11,074 migrants arrived in the UK during these four months after crossing the Channel.
By contrast, there were 27 red days in the same period last year, less than half the number in 2025, with 7,567 crossings recorded.
