By Charles Hymas
Credit: BBC
French police have punctured Channel migrants鈥 boats at sea for the first time in a change of tactics backed by Yvette Cooper.
Officers entered the sea on a beach near Boulogne-sur-Mer on Friday armed with knives to puncture the dinghies in water that was shallow enough for the migrants to wade back to shore.
Dozens of migrants, including some women and children, had to give up their attempt to reach the UK as the boat started to deflate and sink.
Ms Cooper, the Home Secretary, said it was a 鈥渄ifferent鈥 and 鈥渨elcome鈥 strategy that was part of wider plans for French border police and gendarmes to start intervening in shallow waters within 300 metres of the shore to stop migrants鈥 boats leaving.
The new strategy is expected to be unveiled at next week鈥檚 Anglo-French summit when Emmanuel Macron comes to the UK for a three-day state visit.
It comes as a record 20,422 migrants have reached the UK so far this year, up nearly 50 per cent on last year and the highest number in the first six months of any year since the Channel crossings started in 2018. Some 5,170 arrived in June alone.
Ms Cooper has been in talks with the French for their border sea patrols and officers to intercept people smugglers鈥 taxi boats not only in the shallow waters as they leave the beaches, but also when they make their way from rivers and inland waterways to pick up the migrants.
鈥淚鈥檝e been talking to the French interior minister about the importance of action in French waters,鈥 Ms Cooper said.
She added: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what we need in order to prevent boat crossings. We鈥檝e seen criminal gangs this year really exploiting the fact that the French rules for too long have meant that they could not intervene in French waters.鈥
鈥淭he French interior minister has been determined to change those rules. He has been working to do that. I鈥檝e been working very closely with him on it.
鈥淲e do think that there鈥檚 a wider range of interventions that can be used. Our small boats operational command has been working closely with the French authorities on what those options might be.
鈥淭hat work is still underway, but both of us, as interior ministers, the French minister and I, are pressing for this to happen as swiftly as possible and as extensively as possible.鈥
Downing Street also welcomed the tougher French tactics, claiming it reflected efforts by Sir Keir Starmer to 鈥渞eset鈥 relations with the EU.
A No 10 spokesman said: 鈥淣o government has been able to get this level of co-operation with the French.
鈥淭hat is important. We are looking to see France change its maritime tactics, and that is down to the Prime Minister鈥檚 efforts to reset our relationships across Europe.鈥
The spokesman said the new tactic, along with other measures, could 鈥渉ave a major impact on shutting down the tactics these gangs use鈥.
There has been growing frustration at apparent foot-dragging by the French, who so far have stopped fewer than 40 per cent of the boats this year, the lowest proportion on record, despite a three-year 拢480 million Anglo-French deal to combat the crossings.
Until now, the French have refused to intervene in the water because they claim maritime laws prevent them from taking action that could put lives at sea at risk. But French ministers have given permission to do so while 鈥渞especting鈥 the 鈥渓aw of the sea鈥.
Ms Cooper also said that every migrant who arrived on a small boat where someone had died should face prosecution.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 just totally appalling that you see boats where children are being crushed to death on these overcrowded boats, and yet the boat still continues to the UK. So we want to strengthen the law to have endangerment of life at sea be part of our laws, so we can prosecute,鈥 she said.
鈥淔rankly, I want to see everybody who is arriving on a boat where a child鈥檚 life has been lost, frankly, should be facing prosecution, either in the UK or in France.鈥
Labour鈥檚 new borders Bill, currently before Parliament, would create a new offence where any migrant who prevents offers of rescue at sea anywhere on the Channel or who uses physical aggression, intimidation or coercive behaviour to overload boats will face prosecution. They will face up to five years in jail.
Ms Cooper told the BBC that increased overcrowding of boats was part of the reason that the number of arrivals had increased this year.
Earlier on LBC, the Home Secretary refused three times to say that the number of migrants crossing the Channel would be lower this time next year, saying only that she wanted it to be the case and the Government was introducing measures with the aim of achieving it.