France agrees to intercept migrant boats in Channel after police let people smugglers carry on to UK
France has agreed to draw up a plan to stop small boats in the English Channel with new patrol vessels.
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The French government is understood to be expanding its Navy with new patrol boats that could intercept so-called migrant boats before they leave for the UK.
The strategy will be ready before French President Emmanuel Macron comes to London for a summit with Sir Keir Starmer on July 8, The Telegraph reports.
This comes as a row erupted over more than 1000 migrants crossed the Channel on Saturday.
Meanwhile, two people smugglers were jailed after piloting a boat from France to the UK, which saw a woman and child die.
The smugglers were allowed to continue making the crossing, despite the French police stopping the vessel and taking the woman and child off.
French police officers have been reportedly spotted watching as migrants board the smuggling vessels in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, while authorities were then pictured escorting the boats
In response, Defence Secretary John Healey said Britain has "lost control of its borders".
“They’re not doing it, but for the first time for years, we’ve got the level of cooperation needed…
"We’ve got the agreement that they will change the way they work, and our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore."
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper demanded the French start intercepting migrants boats "as swiftly as possible" after 1,195 migrants reached the UK in just 19 dinghies on Saturday.
This year migrant crossings have reached a total of 14,812, the highest on record.
A French interior ministry source told The Telegraph: “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 agree “shared guidelines” in time for the July summit.
The UK has a £480m deal with France designed to stop Channel crossings.
This comes as Afghan nationals Shah Salim Sajjadi, 38, and Safiollah Mohammadi, 25, were arrested after the boat arrived into UK waters on Wednesday May 21.
The small boat was carrying more than 70 people.
Shortly after its departure from a beach near Calais earlier in the day a woman and child had been pulled off the over-crowded boat by a French coastal patrol vessel and declared dead.
Police in France are now investigating the circumstances of the fatalities under the direction of the Dunkirk prosecutor’s office.
The pair were allowed to continue making the perilous crossing of the Channel, despite the deaths of a woman and child on board and the encounter with police.
The pilots of the boat were detained and questioned by investigators from the National Crime Agency after their arrival into Dover.
The men were later charged with facilitating illegal immigration to the UK, and pleaded guilty at a hearing at Folkestone Magistrates on May 24.
They were sentenced to eight months in prison.
NCA Branch Commander Adam Berry said: “This tragic incident demonstrates just how dangerous these crossings are, and the callous nature of those who organise them.
“The boat in question was dangerously over-crowded, but Sajjadi and Mohammadi chose to carry on their journey.
“We continue to work with French colleagues to investigate the circumstances of this crossing and the fatalities.”
A Home Office spokesperson 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.”