Baptiste Verstraete has seen the people smugglers in northern France in action. Living in Berck-sur-Mer, down the coast from Calais, he’s seen smugglers push people out into the water, despite the dangerous currents, to prevent police from intervening.
“There’s not much change despite foot patrols on the beach between Berck and Merlimont, where many departures take place in broad daylight,” he told The i Paper. “I think it’s more about police presence than police action in Berck, because the smugglers arrive by sea and push the migrants into the water to prevent police intervention.”
Verstraete said it’s happening more recently, and that migrant smuggling networks are becoming increasingly co-ordinated. “The police in Berck are understaffed and focused on other matters,” he added. “Residents rarely discuss this unless they witness it.”
That’s not the case across the Channel.
The “mega dinghy” carrying 230 people that broke all records earlier this week for the number of irregular migrants attempting to cross the Channel has returned immigration to the top of the political agenda.
It was the latest example of how illegal gangs have adapted to the harder measures both Britain and France have imposed on people smugglers, which have led to a notable decline in such crossings since 2024 – preventing more than 47,000 attempts, according to the Government. Figures so far show a 43 per cent drop in small boat arrivals this year compared with the same period in 2025.
However, even these statistics cannot pull attention from images of massive, crowded boats in the Channel at a time of heightened political sensitivity. The French lifeboat service has said that there is “no limit” to the number of people that smugglers will try to put on a boat.
Smugglers now reportedly push people out into the water, despite the dangerous currents, to prevent police from intervening (Photo: Francois Lo Presti/AFP)Earlier this month another mega dinghy carrying 173 people capsized after its engine caught fire in the Channel. That people were still willing to make the journey suggests that, for many, the deterrent doesn’t outweigh the desire to reach the UK.
The UK looking for a response
For those on the right of British politics, much of the blame is often attributed to France. The UK has committed to paying France £662m over the next three years to help fund police, security personnel, drones and helicopters, as well as detention centres.
At a recent press conference, the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage announced that a Reform government would deploy the Royal Navy in the Channel to intercept small boats and take them back to France. Leaving aside the legal and diplomatic implications of hostile British vessels entering French waters, it would rip up an agreement that figures suggest has actually been working.
“The UK has already secured some important concessions from France,” said Mihnea Cuibus, a senior researcher at the Migration Observatory at Oxford University.
“France has changed its rules so that police could begin to intercept boats in the Channel in some limited circumstances. There was a lot of resistance to this from French police unions due to the perceived danger – for both the people on the boat and the police.”
While it remains unclear how often these interceptions actually happen, the point, Cuibus says, is to physically prevent boats from leaving France.
Nigel Farage with Reform home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf. The party has announced that a Reform government would deploy the Navy in the Channel to intercept small boats (Photo: Peter Nicholls/Getty)The British government also wants to create a credible deterrent against crossing, such as through the much-hyped one-in, one-out deal where for every migrant sent back to French shores, Britain would accept the same number of migrants who pass eligibility criteria and have not already tried to cross illegally.
“The current one-in, one-out numbers might only be at 4 per cent, but that is not entirely the point,” Cuibus said. “It is about the people sat in France thinking there is a real chance they will pay smugglers, cross the Channel, only to end up back on the same beach. At some point, the Government hopes, the risk might become not worth it.”
Despite the significant decline in crossings under Labour, numbers of irregular migrants are still at a relative historical high. Over 14,000 people have made the crossing, which leads to reasonable questions over what is going wrong and whether or not the £662m being sent France’s way is actually worth it.
Reports also suggest that some dinghies are making their way to France via ports in the UK. The Times reported on Saturday that criminal investigations are under way into a supply chain that transports boats from China, via Britain, to organised criminals in mainland Europe.
Much attention has been paid to the mega dinghies and how they represent smugglers adapting to a more hostile environment in France and Britain. But that isn’t where the innovation ends. Sources spoken to for this article say that they have anecdotally heard would-be migrants say smugglers are willing to take them back across the Channel for free if they are returned to France.
On top of that, the pull factor is still very attractive for some who have travelled long distances across Europe, aiming to arrive in Britain.
French and British vessels saved 157 migrants after their boat caught fire while trying to cross the Channel on 4 August. It is one of the largest such rescue operations reported since records began in 2018 (Photo: Sameer al-Doumy/AFP)In a statement, the French interior ministry told The i Paper: “The traffickers are exposing migrants to enormous risks, and the legal penalties will reflect the severity of the dangers they are encouraging. Investigations are under way and the police apparatus is adapting to this new method of operation.”
It added that it has “observed that smugglers are now using a new, larger type of boat, allowing them to transport more migrants at once”. It put this down to boat launchings becoming increasingly difficult due to police and judicial pressure, as well as operations in Germany that have led to the dismantling of holding sites.
A situation that’s hard to change
“What we have seen in recent days is an evolution in dynamics that are hard to end,” said Susan Fratzke, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “We know from talking to people on the ground that many migrants have travelled through countries where they are awaiting return orders, so they know that getting to Britain helps evade them.”
Fratzke and her think-tank recently proposed that Britain should expand its returns policy with France to elsewhere across Europe. “We already know that the measures most effective for deterring people are having a consequence that is universally applied. If Britain could easily return people to, for example, a Mediterranean country where they might have a legitimate asylum claim, it could prevent them attempting to make those irregular journeys and Channel crossings in the first place.”
This co-operative pan-European approach is, naturally, a far cry from Farage’s hardline proposals. Even suggesting such co-operation with Europe would no doubt lead to outbursts from the British right, who are using the word “invasion” to describe what is happening in the Channel with increasing abandon.
Figures so far show a 43 per cent drop in small boat arrivals this year compared with the same period in 2025 (Photo: Marcin Nowak/Getty)It is easy to see why using France and the EU as a punching bag is so tempting. There are few bolder statements than sending warships towards the French coast. But even that could ultimately do little to deter people from crossing the Channel, precisely because it is about Anglo-Franco conflict rather than the people smugglers themselves.
Moreover, Government and military sources explained to The i Paper that Britain had already tried to use the Navy for precisely this purpose, with little success.
Calling Farage’s plan “totally mad,” a Government source said: “There is nothing the Navy can do that Border Force aren’t already doing. In fact, the Navy previously ran the small boats operation and handed it back to Border Force.”
Beyond the practical problems, they said, it would involve the Navy “going into French waters, torching our relationship with them, and undoing all the co-operation we have that has driven down the number of arrivals so far this year”.
A former naval officer called Reform’s proposals “weird video game logic” and said that it would put huge pressure on the Navy to make difficult decisions on how to engage both with small boats and the French authorities.
The reality reflected by both experts and available data is that co-operation with our nearest neighbour is the most effective solution to the hellish dangers posed by Channel crossings and people smuggling.
There will likely be periods where numbers are exceeded, or tragedy occurs. But, for now, the UK-French partnership seems to be producing results where nothing else has. Tearing that up to make a political point for a domestic audience is, it seems, no way to solve an international crisis.
Hence then, the article about the uk is paying france 660m to stop the boats but smugglers are a step ahead was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( The UK is paying France £660m to stop the boats. But smugglers are a step ahead )
Also on site :
- 49 Years Later: The Most Heartbreaking Quotes About the Day Elvis Presley Died, From the Women Who Loved Him
- Disney D23 Takeaway: With ‘X-Men’, ‘Tangled’, ‘Incredibles 3’ & More, Movie Studio Poised To Slay In 2028
- INVESTOR DEADLINE APPROACHING: Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Reminds Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU) Investors of Securities Class Action Lawsuit Deadline on August 25, 2026