French police are to use nets to stop small boats carrying migrants from leaving the country’s waters.
Officers will target "taxi boats" collecting migrants close to the shore as they have fewer people on board. The intention is to put the boats out of action by snagging their propellers.
The more aggressive strategy follows an agreement between French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in July that more needed to be done to intercept boats before they reach deeper water. France agreed to change maritime laws to allow vessels to be intercepted.
They also agreed a “one-in, one-out” policy to send back migrants in exchange for those whose asylum claims to come to Britain are approved.
Tactics such as slashing boats with knives carries the risk of injury, while intercepting boats at sea raises concerns over migrants drowning.
Under the new plan, up to six teams using 30-metre nets would patrol the coast, with a French navy vessel on hand in case a rescue is required.
The strategy was delayed due to officials' safety concerns, which now appear to have been overcome. “With nets, there’s no collision, no waves,” a source told Le Monde.
Refugee Action described the tactic as “violent” and “reckless”, while Amnesty said it was “profoundly disturbing”. Labour MP Nadia Whittome said using nets was an “extreme, inhumane policy that will put lives at risk”.
Remi Vandeplanque, a French coastguard official from the Solidaires Douanes union, said there was “no way” it could be done safely and would cause “panic or distress” and lead to deaths.
More than 39,000 migrants have made the perilous journey across the English Channel so far this year, with an average of 70 people crowded on to each boat. Twenty-six have died since January, according to the northern French prefecture.
This week, the UK government set out its plans to deter migrants from making the journey by making seeking asylum in the UK less attractive and making it easier to remove people with no right to be in the country.
Secretary of State Shabana Mahmood told MPs on Monday it was the “uncomfortable truth” that the UK’s generous asylum offer, compared with other European countries, is attracting people, and for British taxpayers the system “feels out of control and unfair”.
Under the government plans, refugee status will become temporary and subject to review every 30 months, while refugees will be able to apply for permanent settlement only after 20 years, instead of the current five.
After each review they could be forced to go home if their country is deemed safe.
The reforms come as part of plans to curb Channel crossings, and work to crack down on people smugglers facilitating the dangerous journeys.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper also announced on Wednesday, during a visit to Berlin, that Germany will pass a law before Christmas to allow British police to pursue criminal gangs storing small boats in warehouses in the country.
“It is the result of our co-operation that we are able to go after the criminal gangs that undermine our border security at home,” she said.
