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A top minister has been blasted after appearing to suggest she was uncomfortable with French police slashing a migrant dingy and preventing it from reaching Britain. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander claimed that the footage of French police intercepting the boat in shallow water “wasn’t pleasant to see”, despite widespread praise on social media.
The top minister insisted that Britain is getting value for money from the French, after handing over ￡700 million to the country in the last decade to help prevent migrant crossings.
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Ms Alexander said: “We’ll always spend our money in the public interest, in the national interest, I think that footage we saw - while it wasn’t pleasant to see in terms of the action the French authorities were taking to cut those boats, to prevent people leaving the French shores, that’s action that we are supporting. The gangs have changed their tactics in recent months and recent years, and I think it’s right that our tactics change. But we are going to have to work very closely with France to tackle this problem. And that’s why this visit from President Macron this week is so important.”
READ MORE: No 10 claims credit as French police slash migrants' boat – 'significant moment'
French police slash a dinghy (Image: BBC)
Reacting to her claim that the dinghy slashing had not been “pleasant to see”, Reform UK’s Lee Anderson told the Express: “Jesus. My constituents would go a lot tougher than puncturing a boat.”
Ms Alexander’s comments came hours before French president Emmanuel Macron touched down in Britain for a three-day state visit.
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It’s believed Keir Starmer is hoping to finalise a deal on a one-in-one-out migrant pact with the French, which would destroy incentives for crossing the Channel in small boats.
Asked how important securing the deal is this week, Ms Alexander refused to speculate on whether the Prime Minister will prove successful.
She told Times Radio: “We’re working very closely with the French authorities, and the visit by President Macron this week is another opportunity to continue those discussions.
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“I’m not going to speculate on the coverage of this possibility of a one-in-one-out agreement with France, we’ve seen in the last couple of days that the French authorities are now using new tactics to stop the boats in shallow waters. We welcome that and we want to build on it.
“We’re looking forward to further discussions this week because I think we want to tackle the misery that these very sophisticated criminal gangs are inflicting through this vile trade that operates across the Channel.”
On Friday the BBC caught footage of French police wading into shallow waters off a beach south of Boulogne, using knives to slash up the dinghy.
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Sir Keir’s spokesman said the Government “welcome this action”.
“We want to see tougher action taken, that's precisely the focus of our work, it is the outcome of that close work that you've seen,” they said.
However some social media observers suggested the action, performed in front of BBC cameras, was suspicious just days ahead of President Macron’s state visit.