More than 300 small boat migrants launched from French and Belgian coastlines to avoid police beach patrols

It follows 55 migrants who arrived yesterday, and takes the total number of illegal arrivals for the year so far to almost 6,800.

A senior maritime source told the People's Channel: "People smugglers pushed off boats from well into Belgium, all the way down to a beach at Treport, south of the Somme.

"That's almost 100 miles of coastline the criminal gangs are using for launches on the same day.

"It's an obvious effort to avoid the beach patrols, which are normally concentrated around the Dunkirk and Calais areas."

The latest surge in crossings comes a little more than a week after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed a three-year agreement to pay France £662 million to boost their beach patrols.

The deal is intended to increase the number of French police on coastal patrol duties from around 700 to 1,100.

The Home Office said the arrangement would see officers “targeting and detaining” migrants on the French coast, with the aim of removing hundreds of small boat migrants from beaches every year to stop them entering the water.

It means the UK will hand over £501 million to cover five police units and enforcement activity on French beaches - with an extra £160 million only paid if new tactics to curb Channel crossings succeed.

If efforts fail, the additional funding will stop after a year, the Home Office said.

Despite the arrangements being struck, ministers have stopped short of setting specific targets to measure the success of the deal.

Close to 71,000 illegal migrants have arrived since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister and promised to "smash the gangs".

The Home Secretary previously told GB News there was "no one silver bullet that can end this crisis".

However, Ms Mahmood said she was confident the extra security resources on French beaches will impact the activities of the criminal gangs.

Last month saw Belgium emerge as a significant new launching point for migrants attempting to reach Britain via small boat, with more than 20 vessels departing from West Flanders beaches in April.

The surge comes at the beginning of the traditional crossing season, suggesting people-smuggling networks are expanding their operations.

Belgian authorities have adopted an approach similar to their French counterparts, declining to intercept boats once they enter the water.

Just last week, migrant boats launched into the English Channel just 48 hours after the signing of a new £662million Anglo-French security deal.

In an apparent effort to evade French law enforcement, criminal gangs launched boats some 70 miles south of the area around Dunkirk, where the bulk of migrant activity has taken place in recent months.

A week before that, more than 250 migrants left beaches along the Belgian coast.