The French faced fresh fury last night as it emerged buoys were installed in a “useless position” to stop migrant boats reaching the Channel.
The barrage was stretched across the canal near Etaples and Le Touquet amid fears smugglers are using rivers and smaller waterways to launch boats.
But, in the latest farce, just yards away on the Channel side of the blockade is a runway into the water and a car park.
This is significant because many smugglers will drop dozens of migrants off by vehicle moments before they attempt to launch a dinghy destined for the UK.
And it will heap fresh pressure on the French authorities as it emerged a record number of migrants have crossed the Channel at the start of this year.
Alp Mehmet, Chair of Migration Watch, told the Daily Express: “Is this an indication of how the French regard illegal migration? It’s time they took it seriously and put the millions we give them to better use.
“They could start by stopping more boats from setting off illegally from France. They should also accept back those who make it into British waters. They might then find that fewer enter France with the intention of making their way to the UK.”
Some 3,208 migrants have crossed the Channel since the start of the year, Home Office figures show.
This eclipses the 3,150 that arrived by March 6 last year. It is also 45 per cent higher than the 2,212 arrivals in 2022, which went on to become the record year for small boat arrivals.
Some 2,000 migrants are said to be in camps in Calais and Dunkirk waiting to cross the English Channel, it is understood.
And migrant support charity Care4Calais has claimed 11 people have died attempting to reach the UK so far this year – including a seven-year-old girl.
The child was with her parents and four other adults who hoped to get 10 children aged between seven and 13 to the English Channel, and then across to the UK to claim asylum.
But the flimsy inflatable dinghy they were in collapsed within minutes, flinging everybody into the cold water of the River Aa, around an hour before sunrise.
Smugglers switched to launching boats in rivers and canals amid a renewed crackdown by Police Nationale and the Gendarmeries on the beaches.
But Paris has insisted its officers cannot stop boats once they are in the water.
The Daily Express has been told the barrages are particularly effective in stopping larger dinghies which cannot be launched easily from the beaches.
Kevin Saunders, a former chief immigration officer for Border Force, told the Daily Express: “I knew that the French were going to do this. However I thought they were going to put the barrier at the actual mouth of the river or canal.
“While putting barriers up in the rivers and canals of northern France is a good idea, the barrier needs to be as close as possible to the to the mouth of the canal.
“The people smugglers are being frustrated by the French authorities when trying to get people into the boats directly off the beaches.
“It takes time to inflate a vessel get it down the beach into the sea and then get the migrants into the boat.
“The French are using drones which pick up heat signatures of people thus making it easier for land based patrols to incept the vessels.
“By inflating the vessels in the rivers and canals and then floating them to the beaches the smugglers hope to cut down the amount of time the migrants spend on the beaches.
There are added dangers of boarding people onto boats in the canals as we saw last week with the death of a seven-year-old girl.
“The currents can be very dangerous, and the boats being used are now very poor in design and materials. In fact the vessel used last week was little more than a pleasure craft.
“So blocking the entrance/ exit of the canals would be helpful, but blocking further down is useless.”
The UK, between 2014 and the end of the 2022/23 financial year, gave France £232 million to tackle illegal migration, with around £147.5m of that coming since the small boats crisis began in 2018.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in a landmark summit with French President Emmanuel Macron in March 2023, agreed to pay £478m.This included £124 million in 2023/24, £168m over the next 12 months and £184m in 2025/26.
Mr Sunak said the £478m deal will pay for a new detention centre near Dunkirk, an extra 500 officers and more surveillance equipment. The UK is understood to be contributing around £26m to the new facility.
The number of migrants rescued and returned to France in the Channel has also rocketed to a record level, figures show.
Up to 6 March, at least 868 migrants had been rescued in French waters, compared to 490 over the same period in 2023 and 463 in 2022, Labour said.
That means the total number of people who have tried to cross the Channel so far this year is over 4,075, higher than any previous year.
Stephen Kinnock MP, Labour’s Shadow Immigration Minister, said: “In January, Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly told us that small boat arrivals were down by a third, they said their plan was working, and they insisted that the reduction in crossings last year was nothing to do with the weather.
“All those claims now look utterly ridiculous, and even worse, their complacency has left our country dangerously exposed and ill-prepared for what continues to be a record start to the year for small boat crossings.
“Instead of ignoring what’s happening, the Prime Minister needs to start facing up to the seriousness of this situation and the reality of the chaos that is unfolding in the Channel.”
The Home Office on Thursday also revealed the UK will give Libya £1million in the fight against smugglers operating in the Mediterranean.
The money will support the protection of migrants in Libya and help prevent journeys to Europe by tackling the root causes of illegal migration and facilitating the voluntary return of migrants to their home countries.
Minister for Countering Illegal Migration, Michael Tomlinson, said: “Tackling the global migration crisis and smashing the evil gangs who drive it are shared challenges that must be met with a shared response. The work I have seen first-hand here in Libya and across north Africa is absolutely critical, but we know there is more that must be done.
“The funding and support we are providing will mean Libya is better equipped to stop people risking their lives to reach Europe. It also demonstrates our commitment to crack down on people smugglers operating not just in the English Channel, but across the whole world.”
