French police stand watching migrants pile onto small boats just days after pocketing over £16million from UK taxpayers

Alice Tomlinson
Thu, 09 Apr 2026 08:01:02 +0000

French police have been spotted watching on as migrants pile onto small boats just days after pocketing over £16million from UK taxpayers.

Local police in Dunkirk were filmed as dozens of migrants scrambled onto a Channel-crossing dinghy on a beach in northern France.

The sighting comes just days after Britain handed France millions of pounds to police small boat crossings.

Nearly 50 asylum seekers, including families with young children, approached the shoreline at around 9am on Wednesday, waiting for a smuggler-operated small boat to transport them across to England's shores.

TRENDING

Stories

Videos

Your Say

The group, made up predominantly of men from Africa and the Middle East, entered the water as the rubber dinghy arrived.

However, chaos unfolded shortly after, with armed French police making no attempt to intervene.

The migrants were seen crashing through the waves to secure a spot on the vessel, with some climbing on top of others at the risk of submerging them into the water.

Photographs of the scene showed a group of French enforcement officers standing idly as the mayhem unfolded.

This comes just days after two men lost their lives attempting to make the same crossing via an overcrowded boat on April 1.

French police confirmed that a Sudanese man and an Afghan man had died.

A court later heard that the French authorities had not intercepted the boat because it was "too full".

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood struck a temporary extension deal with France on March 31.

The £16.2million funds additional police presence and patrols on the French coastline.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Four people dead after small boat capsizes while trying to cross Channel from France

France rejects Britain’s offer to intercept and return Channel migrants in blow to Shabana Mahmood

Migrant runner who ‘trained with Mo Farah’ accused of sexually assaulting teen girl at bus stop

The deal, signed at the 11th hour, intends to finance efforts to tackle smuggling gangs from launching boats.

Wednesday morning's scenes suggest the agreement has done little to deter migrants crossing the Channel, or motivating the French authorities to do more to tackle the issue.

The crossing attempt comes amid a broader surge in Channel arrivals, likely to be as the weather improves, with 137 migrants reaching the UK on two small boats on April 7 alone.

Last week, 325 people made the journey across five dinghies.

GB News has revealed that more than 5,000 migrants have arrived in Britain by small boat so far this year.

This follows 41,472 crossings recorded across the whole of 2025.

Under a three-year agreement first signed in 2023, Britain has paid France a total of £476million for enhanced patrols targeting people smuggling gangs.

Negotiations over a new long-term deal worth a reported £650 million had collapsed after France rejected a proposed payment-by-results model.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that British officials are heading to France to try and persuade single male migrants to abandon their plans to cross the Channel.

Managers of a refugee reception centre in Croisilles, near Arras, northern France, revealed the visits by UK officials.

They said UK representatives had been visiting once a month since October to discourage migrants from making the journey.

However, refugee centre managers also said the visits had had little effect, with more than 90 per cent continuing to cross the Channel regardless.

The centres have housed around 14,000 men over the past decade as they await smuggler-organised crossings to Britain.

Last year, French authorities intercepted around 35 per cent of smuggler-operated small boats, preventing approximately 22,500 migrants from completing the crossing.

GB News has reached out to the Home Office for comment.