Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said UK-French measures to stop small boat crossings are having an impact as she welcomed new data showing 50,000 have been stopped since July 2024
Tens of thousands of small boat crossings have been stopped since the general election, new figures show – as extra riot police are set to be deployed to French beaches.
French operational data has revealed that more than 50,000 attempts to cross the Channel had been prevented since July 2024. There is growing alarm about dangerous vessels being launched from further west along the coast in response to operations in and around Calais.
It has been announced that 50 specialist Compagnie Republicaine de Sécurité (CRS) officers, France’s main anti-riot unit, will be deployed on days when crossings are most likely.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Over 50,000 crossing attempts have been prevented since the election and arrivals are down significantly. Our collective efforts, on both sides of the Channel, are having an impact.
“Every prevention made by officers is a blow to the smugglers behind this trade. But we are not complacent. We will be relentless in pursuing the criminal gangs and bearing down on the small boats.”
Despite recording a significant fall in arrivals so far this year, the government is under pressure to tackle the dangerous crossings. At the start of the month a one-in-one-out agreement with France – the UK’s first return agreement to mainland Europe since Brexit – came to an end.
France called on Andy Burnham to negotiate a returns deal with the EU as a whole.
The Home Office said the newly-deployed officers will tackle large groups gathering on French beaches. It doubles the size of a specialist unit until March next year.
Border Security Commander Duncan Capps said: “Joint work with the French is crucial to protecting our borders. Our close partnership is delivering results by stopping thousands of small boat launches in dangerous and difficult conditions.
“This summer recorded the lowest number of arrivals since 2020, but we are not complacent. We’re committed to going even further to stop the criminal gangs before they have a chance to act.”
In a statement the Home Office pointed to recent successes, including the interception of a taxi boat which was launched from Belgium on September 28. Migrants would have waded into the water to climb onboard the UK-bound vessel if it had not been tracked.
Drone tech was used to track a van carrying dinghy equipment on September 22, the same day a group of 100 migrants were intercepted heading for a boat.
And on September 27 a suspected small boat pilot was arrested after getting on a taxi boat. Ms Mahmood has launched a new Small Boat Returns Taskforce to accelerate efforts to remove people with no right to stay in the UK.