The Channel crisis is prompting renewed calls for action (Image: Steve Finn Photography)
Another 210 migrants crossed the Channel on Wednesday, as pressure intensified on the French to intercept more small boats in the water. Some 1,378 asylum seekers have been intercepted from March 1-5, bringing the yearly total to 3,434.
This is a record number for this point of the year, Daily Express analysis reveals. But Home Office figures revealed 210 people were crammed onto just three boats, meaning an average of 70 on each vessel. French interior minister Bruno Retailleau vowed to “rethink our approach” after talks with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper last week.
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But on Wednesday morning, the Daily Express witnessed one of the deathtrap boats being escorted by a French naval ship – Ridens – to the median line in the Channel, where up to 60 migrants were then taken to Dover by the UK’s Border Force Typhoon.
Dozens of migrants were packed onto a dinghy (Image: Steve Finn Photography)
Migrants being brought into Dover (Image: PA)
Border security commander Martin Hewitt travelled to Calais and Paris on Wednesday to urge the French to quickly stop migrant dinghies in the water, the Daily Express can reveal.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Express: “These are shocking photos.
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“The French should have stopped this boat near their shores and not ushered it into UK waters.
“By allowing these crossings to continue, it is endangering life – nearly 100 have died crossing in the last year.
“If the French stopped these boats in French waters, the crossing attempts would soon stop, and the migrants and gangs around Calais would disperse.
“The French must urgently stop the boats in the water or they are complicit in helping the criminal people smugglers.
“The UK Government must also urgently introduce immediate removals for illegal immigrants crossing the Channel.
“Cancelling Rwanda before it even started was a huge mistake – and that is why illegal crossings under Labour have gone up by 26% since the election.”
Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage said: “The French may stop the odd boat in the shallows, but overall, this will make little difference as these pictures clearly show.”
The UK wants the French to start turning boats around “as soon as possible” – something the French government has agreed to, this newspaper understands.
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Mr Retailleau agreed to the change in tactics because he believes it could counter the use of “taxi-boats”, where smugglers quietly launch the boat in a canal or quieter part of the beach and then pick up larger numbers of migrants down the coastline.
This prevented French police from blocking asylum seekers from climbing onto a boat because their laws claimed this could endanger lives.
Ms Cooper has been pushing for French police to intercept migrant boats already in the water, the Daily Express understands.
On Wednesday morning, the French authorities requested that Border Force travel into their waters to rescue the migrants, sources said.
The boat packed with dozens of migrants was feared to be taking on water as the French vessel – Ridens – followed behind.
Eventually, the French and British authorities both deployed rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) and shadowed the migrant dinghy to the middle of the Channel.
The asylum seekers were then rescued from the dinghy and taken to Dover by Border Force Typhoon.
Migrants were seen tossing objects overboard as the authorities approached, it is understood.
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Vowing to stop more boats in the water, Mr Retailleau said: “We need to rethink our approach so that we can intercept the boats. We must be able to intercept them within 300 metres of the coast.
“They have a naval service, the gendarmerie, and they must be able to intervene in shallow waters.”