The Home Secretary has hailed the UK's co-operation with France after reports that authorities are using nets in the sea to try and prevent small boats crossing the Channel. French police have been laying nets in the water which could jam boat propellers, in an attempt to reduce the number of crossings, according to The Sun On Sunday.
It comes after reports on Friday that French police officers had used knives to puncture a boat off the coast. The Government has repeatedly pushed for French authorities to do more to prevent boats leaving the shore, including changing existing rules to allow police officers to intervene when dinghies are in the water.
Cooper praises new tactics
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (Labour) said that "no-one should be making these small boat journeys across the Channel, which undermine our border security and put lives at risk". She said that working with the French is "vital to stop boats crossing in the first place".
Cooper added: "Over the last few months we have been working together on new ways to crack down on the criminal gang operations, with the French now bringing in important new tactics to stop boats that are in the water. We need to stop at nothing to boost our border security and deliver our plan for change."
Crossings reach record milestone
There were no crossings on Saturday according to the Home Office, after more than 500 people made the journey on Friday. Earlier this week, the tally pushed past 20,000 for 2025, the earliest point this has happened in a calendar year since data started being recorded in 2018.
The total for 2025 currently sits at 21,117, according to PA news agency analysis of Home Office data. Sir Keir Starmer (Labour) and French president Emmanuel Macron are set to discuss immigration when they hold a summit later this week.
Summit talks planned
The Prime Minister will meet Macron when he travels to the UK for a state visit. The two leaders spoke on Saturday, and said they hoped to make "good progress" on the matter in their talks expected on Thursday.
Issuing a readout of their conversation, a Downing Street spokesperson said: "Turning to the UK-France summit on Thursday, they hoped to make good progress across a wide range of our joint priorities including migration, growth, defence and security."
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
