French police have been snapped standing by as Channel crossing migrants embark upon the perilous 21-mile journey to British shores.
Around a dozen officers, including some clutching riot shields, were photographed watching on a beach in Gravelines in Normandy.
Gravelines is a popular location for migrants to start journeys to the UK.
Migrants tend to hide in the nearby sand dunes before boarding dinghies.
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak signed up to a small boat deal with the European Union in a bid to end the crisis.
Despite handing over cash to Paris and signing up to the Frontex accord, migrants continued to cross the Channel ahead of polls opening on July 4.
Sir Keir Starmer’s victory last week does not appear to have changed the situation.
Almost 500 people reached the UK since Labour’s 172-seat landslide victory.
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at Nato
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Starmer scrapped Sunak’s Rwanda deportation scheme on the first day of his premiership.
Home Office figures show 419 people made the journey in six boats on Tuesday, taking the provisional total for 2024 to date to 14,058.
The number is 10 per cent higher than the figure recorded this time last year and six per cent up on the same period in 2022.
Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said: “‘Smash the gangs?’ Sir Keir has surrendered to the people smugglers.”
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness, KentPAHome Secretary Yvette Cooper instead opted to announce the establishment of a new Border Security Command.
Cooper claimed Labour would “tackle the root of the problem” by targeting the criminal smuggling gangs “making millions out of small boat crossings, undermining our border security and putting lives at risk”.
Speaking at the Nato summit in Washington, Starmer added: “This a command that will lead on smashing the gangs and as I’ve said many times before, having been myself part of operations that have taken down gangs – police and prosecutors across borders gathering evidence and intelligence, sharing data, having an arrest strategy, a prosecution strategy, an evidence strategy has successfully brought down many gangs, including terrorist gangs.
“I do not accept these are the only gangs that can’t be brought down.”
Source Agencies
