𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Andy Burnham and Emmanuel Macron faced fresh ridicule last night as police reinforcements to stop mega dinghies were not allowed into the water.

The Prime Minister and French President met in Downing Street yesterday, insisting the plan is “clearly working”, despite smugglers planning to launch more mega dinghies.

But London and Paris faced as the new “surge team” will not be allowed to enter the water.

A “surge team” of 45 officers will be deployed to cover areas such as Le Touquet, Berck, Le Tréport and Dieppe.

The officers are a mix of local gendarmes and Police Nationale officers. They will be in addition to the 1,050 already deployed to patrol beaches further north.

People smugglers shifted some of their launch sites West after French police intensified patrols around Calais and Dunkirk. Criminal gangs have forced migrants to spend as long as 18 hours on inflatable dinghies after launching from Dieppe, in Normandy, and making numerous pick-ups from different beaches.

The Daily Express is aware of one dinghy – carrying 173 people – that sank off the coast of Boulogne after launching from Dieppe. And a dinghy carrying a staggering 230 people smashed all records for the biggest boats detected in the Channel.

But the reinforcements will be deployed to stop smugglers from launching dinghies.

And they won’t be able to act once the boats enter the water unless the commander gives a specific order to save lives.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “It’s a joke these officers can’t even go into knee-deep water to stop illegal immigrants. This will mean they’re next to useless.

More officers change nothing if they are still banned from going into the water, because once a dinghy has been launched, they can only stand on the beach and watch it leave.

“I saw this for myself in France recently with 10 armed French Gendarmes Nationale – who UK taxpayers fund – standing around doing nothing while 100 illegal immigrants embarked in knee deep water.

“The £660 million we pay should be withheld until the French prevent all embarkations in shallow waters.”

Robert Bates, Research Director at the Centre for Migration Control, said: “This is clearly nothing more than yet another empty gesture from the British and French governments.

“The public is rightly infuriated that the political class are refusing to take the firm steps needed to stop the Channel crisis, and is instead simply coming up with yet another ingenious way to waste money.

“We do not need the help of the French to stop the boats. A strong deterrent of detention and deportation would be far more effective than sucking up to Macron.”

Mr Burnham and Mr Macron met at No 10 on Thursday morning after spending the previous evening together at the British Museum alongside the King to mark the special exhibition of the Bayeux Tapestry.

While the combined total number of boat crossings over the summer months has dropped to its lowest since 2019, smugglers appear to have started loading more people onto fewer, larger vessels.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “Turning to small boats, the Prime Minister said the cooperation between both countries was clearly working, and operational teams were making headway on driving down numbers and reducing crossings.

“It was now vital to ensure that success was scaled up across Europe to deter illegal migration, the leaders agreed.

“The leaders also discussed the UK’s drive to get closer to Europe, and the Prime Minister set out how the Made in Europe agenda could pose significant challenges for UK industry. The leaders agreed it was vital to work together to find a way forward to protect shared interests.

“On Ukraine, they discussed next steps on establishing local assembly lines in Ukraine for the long-range missile, SCALP, which uses British technology, and reflected on the successful Coalition of the Willing meeting in Kyiv last week.

“The two leaders also reflected on the situation in the Middle East, including the need to ensure de-escalation in the Strait of Hormuz. The Prime Minister also raised Israel’s latest move on the E1 settlement, adding that it was unacceptable and only served to undermine the prospect of the two-state solution.

“The leaders agreed to step up work across the full spectrum of shared challenges to deliver for people in both countries and looked forward to speaking again soon.”