Another 50 French riot police working to stop migrant crossings – Mahmood

George Lithgow, Press Association Political and Home Affairs Correspondent

The number of French riot police patrolling the country’s northern beaches has been doubled from 50 to 100, the Home Office has said.

Additional officers from the Compagnie Republicaine de Securite (CRS), France’s main anti-riot unit, will be sent to the Channel coast until March 2027.

They will be on standby for so-called red days, when favourable weather and sea conditions make crossing attempts highly likely.

The CRS officers will be equipped with specialist public order powers to stop large groups gathering and boarding boats, the department said.

They will be funded by the three-year £662 million UK-France deal agreed in April.

According to French operational data provided by the Home Office, some 50,000 attempts by migrants to cross the Channel by boat have been prevented since the 2024 general election.

Smuggling gangs have been launching dinghies from a wider area in recent months, in an effort to evade French authorities.

Earlier this month, a dinghy set off from near the Utah Beach area of Normandy before being brought into Gosport in Hampshire.

Departures so far west have been rare in recent years but it was the third such crossing in the space of a month.

The provisional total for Channel crossings this year is 20,935.

This is down 42% on this time last year and 23% below the figure at this stage in 2024.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Our collective efforts, on both sides of the Channel, are having an impact.

“Every prevention made by officers is a blow to the smugglers behind this trade.

“But we are not complacent.

“We will be relentless in pursuing the criminal gangs and bearing down on the small boats.”

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