French becoming more effective in stopping small boat crossings, UK says
The UK Home Office reports that new French police tactics are successfully intercepting more small migrant boats in the English Channel. Despite this, the effectiveness of these measures remains a point of political contention between the current government and the opposition.
Why it matters
The management of illegal migration via the English Channel is a high-priority political issue affecting UK-EU relations and domestic policy.
Share Save Add as preferred on Google Tom Symonds News correspondent French police slash small migrant boat French police tactics are becoming more effective in stopping small boats in the English Channel from reaching Britain, the Home Office has said.
It credits French authorities with intercepting 185 potential crossings involving 4,300 migrants this summer over four separate weeks, as well as stopping 12 boats at sea using new techniques.
Footage released by French police shows officers racing across a beach in jeeps to intercept a launch. Once the boat is abandoned, an officer slashes it lengthways with a knife.
The Conservatives described the announcement as a "joke" and said Channel crossing preventions were "down by half over the past year".
Migrants can be seen throwing objects at the officers, one of whom appears to respond with pepper spray.
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