French police have used an extraordinary new tactic to prevent migrant boats reaching the UK involving jetskis. Propellers are jammed up using nets, halting boats in shallow water. The method has been used as part of a pilot, which also saw French police officers using knives to puncture a boat packed with migrants destined for the UK on Friday (July 4).
Britain has been pushing France to do more to stop boats, including changing existing rules so police officers can intervene when dinghies are in the water. Reports on Friday suggest tougher action is being taken, the Sun writes.
Downing Street said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s “reset” with Europe has delivered the change in French tactics. A spokesman said: “We welcome action from French law enforcement to take action in shallow waters, and what you have seen in recent weeks is a toughening of their approach.”
The response comes as figures show small boat crossings have reached record levels. Overall, 517 people arrived in eight boats on Friday, taking the annual total to 21,117, an increase of 56% on the same point last year, according to analysis by the PA news agency.
The tally passed 20,000 on Tuesday (July 1) – the earliest point in the calendar year the figure has been reached since data was first collected in 2018.
Sir Keir has pledged to “smash the gangs” which smuggle migrants into the UK. But the Government has struggled to get the numbers down.
Downing Street has acknowledged the numbers “must come down”, but failed to guarantee they would in the next year.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said on Friday that part of the reason for the increase in crossings was a rise in the number of people being crammed onto each boat.
She suggested all migrants who arrive on an overcrowded boat where a child has died should face prosecution. Some 15 children are reported to have died while attempting the crossing last year.
The Government has already included a new offence of “endangering life at sea” in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently making its way through Parliament.
Ms Cooper has ordered a nationwide immigration “enforcement crackdown” which the Government says will target illegal working in the gig economy.
Officers will carry out checks in hotspots across the country where they suspect asylum seekers are working as delivery riders without permission.
It comes after Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat said they would ramp up facial verification and fraud checks over the coming months after conversations with ministers.
Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, last week claimed in a post on X to have found evidence of people working illegally for the food delivery firms during a visit to a hotel used to house asylum seekers.
On Saturday, the Home Office said anyone caught “flagrantly abusing the system in this way” will face having state support discontinued, whether entitlement to accommodation or payments.
Asylum seekers in the UK are normally barred from work while their claim is being processed, though permission can be applied for after a year of waiting.
Deliveroo has said the firm takes a “zero tolerance approach” to abuse on the platform and despite measures put in place over the last year, “criminals continue to seek new ways to abuse the system”.
An Uber Eats spokesperson has said they will continue to invest in tools to detect illegal work and remove fraudulent accounts, while Just Eat says it is committed to strengthening safeguards “in response to these complex and evolving challenges.”