The latest talk on finally stopping illegal Channel crossings is just that, and will do next to nothing to “stop the boats,” a migration expert has warned.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, told europeanconservative.com that measures unveiled following talks between British home secretary Yvette Cooper and Bruno Retailleau, her French counterpart, amount only to “more smoke and empty words but no new resources.”
He added that if Emmanuel Macron’s government really plans to lift the ban on French police stopping migrant boats at sea,
why will they not take back the migrants who make it to the UK? If they did, it would stop the boats at a stroke.
Instead, pre-existing funds have simply been redirected to the creation of a new “specialist intelligence and judicial police unit” in Dunkirk, on the north French coast, to go after people smugglers—who will soon be replaced by other individuals willing to exploit tens of thousands of undeterred migrants—and to the training of drone pilots.
€2.67 million will also be spent on a new police unit called the Compagnie de Marche, supposedly “taking inspiration from the operational response during the Paris Olympics” to tackle “increases in violence on French beaches.” The sum is insignificant compared to that still being handed to Ukraine. Of course, it would not have to be spent at all if officials deterred migrants from crossing in the first place by making them aware they cannot remain in the UK after landing in Dover.
The plans come as 592 migrants crossed the Channel on Sunday alone, the highest daily total in 2025 so far.
A government spokesman attempted to defend the figure by insisting “there are no quick fixes” to illegal crossings and that “a serious and credible plan” has been put in place. But Reform UK said that the ‘smash the gangs’ policy had “failed” and will continue failing.
