French police should not intervene in shallow waters to cease migrant dinghies heading for UK, their inside minister says

France‘s interior minister has told police they must not intervene in shallow waters to stop migrant boats heading for the UK. 

Laurent Nunez, who serves in President Emmanuel Macron‘s government, said that officers damaging the dinghies was ‘unacceptable’.

Appearing at a parliamentary commission studying UK-French migration treaties, Mr Nunez was asked about footage which appeared to show French police wading into the water to slash a small boat. 

‘Regarding the actions you mention, which allegedly involve damaging boats to prevent them from setting sail again, I repeat that our priority is saving human lives,’ he said. 

The minister instead said it was the officers’ job to intercept the boats on land or if the vessel was at risk of capsizing. 

They would then be allowed to intervene to rescue the asylum seekers’ lives.  

He continued: ‘The priority is indeed to prevent people from taking to the water.

‘The doctrine for intervention at sea is a different matter; it is an operation carried out under the authority of the maritime prefect under extremely strictly defined conditions.’

Migrants clambered onto a dinghy in Gravelines, France, heading for the UK. France’s interior minister has told police they must not intervene in shallow waters to stop migrant boats heading for the UK

French police slash a dinghy in the shallow water on a beach. Laurent Nunez, who serves as President Emmanuel Macron’s interior minister, said that officers damaging the dinghies was ‘unacceptable’

Laurent Nunez said it was the officers’ job to intercept the boats on land or if the vessel was at risk of capsizing

Mr Nunez laid out the two ‘frameworks’ which allowed French police to intercept small boats, as reported by The Daily Telegraph. 

As well as stopping them on land, an elite, specially trained, police unit can stop the boats at sea.

He said that the new unit had stopped ten dinghies since it was launched a few months ago, with Mr Nunez adding that interventions at sea would only take place when ‘absolutely necessary to save human lives’.

Mr Nunez’s comments come after 1,129 asylum seekers crossed the Channel in the last four days and on Wednesday 781 migrants arrived in the UK – a daily record for 2026. 

Despite this, the number of crossings is down more than 40 per cent on last year. 

So far this year, 18,579 migrants have travelled into Britain.