French border patrol will FINALLY intercept small boats crossing English Channel in the water

It comes as Westminster and Paris are gearing up for the Franco-British summit, which begins on July 8, when President Emmanuel Macron will travel to London for a state visit.

Under the new proposals, six new patrol boats that will not only rescue migrants from drowning but could also intercept the "taxi boats" before they leave for the UK.

A French interior ministry source told The Telegraph: "We are aware of the high stakes involved in interventions at sea and of the need to adapt our doctrine of action.

"Today, our intervention can only take place to rescue a boat already at sea, in particular because of the criminal liability issues associated with any interception carried out for any other reason.

"We would like to change this framework so that we can operate in shallow waters, up to 300 metres from the coast, and thus intercept 'taxi boats', while respecting the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, known as the Montego Bay Convention."

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The Telegraph reports a "compagnie de Marche" of specialist enforcement officers is expected to play a key part in the interceptions.

There were 60 so-called "red days" between January 1 and April 30 this year, when factors such as wind speed, wave height and the likelihood of rain meant crossings were classed by officials as "likely" or "highly likely."

Around 11,074 migrants arrived in the UK during these four months after crossing the Channel.

By contrast, there were 27 red days in the same period last year, less than half the number in 2025, with 7,567 arrivals recorded, nearly a third lower than the total for this year.

There were also 27 red days in the first four months of 2022, with 23 red days in 2023, with 6,691 and 5,946 arrivals in these periods, respectively.

A Home Office spokesman said: “This Government is restoring grip to the broken asylum system it inherited that saw a whole criminal smuggling enterprise allowed to develop, where gangs have been able to exploit periods of good weather to increase the rate of crossings for too long.”

The spokesman added that 9,000 crossings have been prevented from the French coastline this year.

Officials are understood to be pessimistic about the prospect of bringing numbers down this year, with measures not expected to start paying off until 2026.

On Monday, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs the Government is pressing their French counterparts to bring in agreed changes that would allow French police to also take action in the sea when migrants climb into boats from the water.

“A French maritime review is looking at what new operational tactics they will use, and we are urging France to complete this review and implement the changes as swiftly as possible,” she said.

“I have been in touch with the French interior minister who supports stronger action again this weekend, and there are further discussions under way this week.”