French authorities say 185 small boat events and more than 4,300 crossing attempts were prevented during the first three months of a new UK-France agreement, with additional police units, drones and maritime interception tactics now in use.
French police prevented 185 small boat events and more than 4,300 attempted crossings during the first three months of a new UK-France agreement, according to figures provided by French authorities, the UK Defence Journal understands.
The figures cover the period between 27 April and 2 August and were published by the Home Office on 21 August. According to the department, French units funded under the agreement stopped 61% of small boat events during the period, with activity including preventing launches, seizing boats, engines and lifejackets, and arresting suspected people smugglers. The Home Office said the prevention rate was nearly 5% higher than during the equivalent period in 2025.
French reporting cited by the Home Office also recorded four weeks during the three-month period in which every identified potential crossing event was intercepted. The government said action on the French side directly prevented more than 4,300 crossing attempts, while additional attempts may have been disrupted before groups reached beaches. The figures are based on information supplied by the French authorities rather than an independent UK count.
The measures have included direct intervention on beaches and against so-called taxi boats used to collect migrants from stretches of coastline after launching elsewhere. Since the first deployment of new maritime tactics on 3 March, French units have intercepted 12 taxi boats on the water, according to the Home Office, including three during the two weeks preceding the announcement. The stated aim is to prevent boats moving along the coast and taking additional passengers aboard before attempting the Channel crossing.
Examples provided by the government include an operation south of Calais in May in which French units located three groups totalling nearly 100 people alongside a boat concealed in vegetation, four cans of petrol and an engine. In another May operation, police intercepted a vehicle containing a boat, engine, three fuel cans and a fuel tank and arrested a suspected smuggler. Two suspected traffickers were arrested in June after officers found a boat and fuel cans in another vehicle, while in July a Gendarmerie drone detected a group transporting a boat engine, leading officers to locate and seize a vessel.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said, as quoted in a news update: “Our new UK-France deal is already having a real impact, stopping crossings before they happen and disrupting the criminal gangs behind them.” She added: “People smugglers should be in no doubt, we’re taking down their operations, seizing their equipment and breaking their business model for good.” Mahmood said more than 47,000 small boat crossing attempts had been prevented since the government took office.
The agreement has also expanded the French policing presence. Two additional police units are operating on French beaches, including a new 50-person riot police unit intended to contain and disperse large groups. The Home Office said France is also introducing millions of pounds worth of drone surveillance, two additional helicopters and a new camera surveillance system for operations against smugglers and attempted crossings.
A separate trial launched on 1 May allows French authorities to remove people from beaches and place them in detention. Statistics supplied by France and cited by the Home Office show that 119 people had been detained under the trial. The department said 76 remained in detention and 32 had been released, while 40 people detained under the scheme had been deported from France either to their countries of origin or to other European Union states through which they had travelled. A permanent immigration removal centre is also being constructed in Dunkirk.
Charlie Eastaugh, Director of Maritime and Small Boats at Border Security Command, said, as quoted in the same news update: “Our partnership with France is stronger than ever. Together, we are piling the pressure on the criminal gangs and preventing these illegal and dangerous crossings.” He added that French officers were taking action where it was considered safe and lawful to stop launches, seize equipment and disperse groups before boats entered the Channel.
Something at least.
But until the carrot is removed there is no deterrent and so this will continue.
If they are put up in a hotel they only get £9.95 per week. And they can’t choose where they get accommodated. But they do get access to NHS services, dentists and prescriptions while the asylum claim goes through the system. They also can’t work. Not legally anyway. I do wonder if many of them get sold a rather false narrative about what they can get in the UK and what life here is really like from the people smugglers.
They know full well that a majority will not be deported, and after they can then claim Asylum and if that succeeds years later in due course can apply for ILR.
Then access to the benefit system.
Then due to the right to a family life 1 becomes 2, 3, 4, 7, 10, however many follow.
The system is weak, and no surprise that the world’s poor take full advantage of our weakness and generosity.
It is unsustainable and any attempt to make it a serious national conversation is shouted down by the usual who no doubt will be along shortly.
I think a lot more are deported than we realise.
Those figures are available on migration watch, and most remain.
If you enter illegally you should not be able to claim Asylum, end of.
Easy.
If they knew that if they come illegally they’ll be automatically removed, even offshore somewhere if they hide their nationality and there’s no return agreement, the issue would eventually go away.
As it is, there is no deterrent and here they are.
Brexit didn’t help here with the loss of the Dublin agreement.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg, almost 4 million allowed in during the Boris wave, all to get ILR shortly.
From March 2025 to March 2026 some 39000 where deported. 9700 of those are forced deportations, the rest voluntary deportations according to the Gov website.
They don’t just get given ILR. They have to apply for it, and it costs £3223 per person just to apply, and £50 for the life in the UK test and £150 for the English language test. So they aren’t just handed anything.
85% that apply for asylum are given right to remain. Our European neighbours are around 25% success rate. Thats why they come.
The are then given houses and access to the benefit system. In five years or so they get given ILR which means they are here for life, inc state pensions etc.
We’re providing a benefits system to the world.
They don’t judt get given ILR. They have to apply for it, and it costs £3223 per person just to apply, and £50 for the life in the UK test and £150 for the English language test. So they aren’t just handed anything.
That’s £9.95 per week on top of paid rent, 3 square meals, and all the NGO help and assistance (much NGO funding comes directly or indirectly from the government anyway), including entertainment, free hair cuts, free precriptions etc.
If they are given a free house instead, and not food, I’m told they ‘only’ get £49.18 per person per week for food. That’s the equivalent of a family of 4 having a food shop of over £850 per month.
There’s a lot more that can and should be done, including reducing the incentive, and criminalising those NGOs who are enabling the who enterprise (which costs many lives each year).
This article is bullshit.
Definitely. Migration rules used not to be broken this way. A few years ago, the vast majority of illegal immigration came through London airport, with a visa for vacation and never returned. It is about 90% of all illegal migrations. I don’t know how things are today, but this story of boats and smugler always look like the ermerged part of it. And by the way, it was much more practical.
It is not about how many boats are stopped it is about how many get through.
Just lets have some Great Whites there that will do not prevention than the millions wasted………
Forgive me for being a tad cynical here!IF this is actually occurring where is the great fanfare from the Govt to prove their system is working? Meanwhile we see a steady stream of even bigger ‘small’ boats coming across daily on our screens! Danielle has it right until illegal entry equals no chance of staying this will continue🤬and now the govt is considering a Rwanda type scheme with third countries where have we heard that before?
It doesn’t get reported as the bulk of the media is in the back pockets of people trying to undermine the government. Don’t take what you see in the media as fact. As for social media, assume everything on there is bull shit.
Oh silly me🙄
Unfortunately you stop them crossing one day and the people smugglers will try again on another day and so on until they reach the south coast of England. This endless wave of illegal migration will not stop until all of those that want to come to the UK have arrived.
This is organised crime on a grand scale. It’s not just the crossings themselves but everything else that facilitates it. This involves illegal activity ashore on both sides of the channel. Who is supplying the engines, boats and fuel?
It is good to see the French taking this seriously at last.