Keir Starmer admits the UK lacks an effective Channel deterrent and urges President Emmanuel Macron to authorize sea interceptions amid migration concerns.
After months of outrage over French inaction, Paris has finally devised a plan to prevent dinghies from entering shallow seas.
Security personnel will be able to stop the small boats at sea, but only before they pick up their passengers, according to the maritime police agency. To break the gridlock, the Prime Minister wrote to Mr Macron, urging that "it is essential we deploy these tactics this month".
Strong winds are now delaying the start of interceptions, and people-smuggling organizations will explore new ways to evade detection.
Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said:
“Keir Starmer is now openly admitting there is no deterrent in the Channel because he scrapped the only one we had.
Labour cancelled Rwanda days before flights were due to take off. Starmer is confessing that his ‘smash the gangs’ slogan and his one-in-one-out gimmick don’t deter anyone. That’s why illegal crossings have surged since the election.”
Whitehall insiders told the Daily Express that they are waiting to see if France would keep its promises after months of frustration.
French police provoked outrage earlier this year when they said they don't "really want to go into the water" with refugees attempting to reach the United Kingdom.
Union barons complained about a lack of training and equipment, saying they had yet to receive any fresh orders.
One officer confessed that police do not "really want to go into the water to stop people".
In June, the French government agreed to let cops intercept migrant boats within 300 metres of the coast.
The technique is regarded as critical to deterring people smugglers from launching so-called "taxi-boats," in which migrants wade out into the water and wait for a dinghy.
This causes chaos as asylum seekers attempt to cram themselves onto already overloaded boats.
Insiders at the Home Office had hoped that French police would begin intercepting migrant dinghies this summer.
They initially expected adjustments in May. However, the French government did not settle on important tactical issues until June.
The move comes as 39,292 passengers have already crossed the English Channel this year.
“When the last Tory Government tried to carry out pushbacks in the Channel, Care4Calais launched a legal challenge - and won. Any attempt to do something similar on the French side of the Channel must face the same level of opposition.”
What legal steps France must take to permit sea interceptions?
Once disinclination stemmed from prosecutorial warnings( e.g., Saint- Omer in 2023) against dangerous practices banned by maritime law, egging clerical drives like Bruno Retailleau's for legal reviews.
Interceptions are allowed only before passengers board, in shallow coastal waters within France's territorial ocean( up to 12 nautical long hauls), but bear unambiguous policy shifts to stamp former hesitancy from safety enterprises.
French authorities must formally amend or reinterpret maritime policing regulations via Interior Ministry directives, as seen in the July 2025 policy change announced after the Starmer- Macron peak, enabling boarding and searches of departing vessels.