France to approve new plans to halt small boats crossing

It is understood that French security forces will target empty “taxi boats”, or large dinghies, before they pick up passengers from beaches to be taken to the UK.

According to the Paris-based newspaper Le Monde, Starmer wrote to President Emmanuel Macron urging him to back the plan and saying we currently “have no effective deterrent” in the Channel.

The development is the latest twist in the ongoing wrangle between the two governments over how to stop unauthorised small boat journeys. The growing number of people arriving in the UK in small boats has become a damaging political problem for Starmer’s government.

An NGO working with refugees has told the Guardian it could launch a legal challenge because the tactic could force desperate people to take more dangerous journeys.

In July, there was a flurry of French police interventions near French beaches to stop the boats – with footage recorded by the BBC of a boat being punctured in shallow water while carrying asylum seekers. But the interventions were halted in early August following objections from the French police officers’ union.

On Friday, French government sources confirmed that French security forces will be allowed to stop small boats at sea, but only before passengers are picked up.

Le Monde said it had seen a document dated 25 November saying that a framework for interventions has been established. The same newspaper also reported that it had seen a letter from Starmer to Macron saying: “It is essential that we deploy these tactics this month ... We have no effective deterrent in the Channel.”

The move comes as 39,292 people have made the journey across the English Channel so far this year.

In June, the French cabinet pledged to change the way maritime law was interpreted, to allow police officers to intercept migrant boats at sea for the first time – within 300m of the coast. The BBC witnessed French police wading into the sea south of Boulogne to slash the sides of a boat.The following month Starmer and Macron announced a “one in, one out” deal under which one person would be allowed to travel legally to the UK to claim asylum in exchange for another who arrived irregularly being returned to France.

A second part of the deal was the interception of overcrowded dinghies up to 300 metres out to sea.

But since then, French police have rarely intervened to stop the overcrowded boats leaving the coastline because it is considered too great a risk to both officers and civilians.

The new funding cycle for securing the sea border between the two countries is set to conclude in March, and the release of British funds to France has been contingent on Paris giving assurances of a tougher maritime security presence.

It remains unclear how the interventions will happen, with the French authorities refusing to say if they plan to puncture boats before they pick up their passengers from French beaches.

The majority of deaths of passengers of small boats in the Channel now occur near the coast, most of them either from drowning or asphyxiation on overcrowded boats. Twenty-six people have died during crossing attempts so far in 2025, according to French data.

Care4Calais’ chief executive, Steve Smith, whose NGO has successfully challenged previous attempts to stop boats at sea, said: “This is a dangerous moment, that will cost more lives.

“Intercepting boats whilst they are in the water has never been done before because, quite frankly, it puts people at risk.

“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.”

“The only way to stop Channel crossings is to create safe routes for people to claim asylum in the UK.”

A UK government spokesperson said: “We continue to work closely with our French partners on the shared challenge of illegal migration, and we have already worked to ensure officers in France review their maritime tactics so they can intervene in the shallow waters.”