French diplomat: UK pledge to cease boats ‘totally delusionary’

French president Emmanuel Macron confronted fury after an ex-ambassador to Britain referred to as Rishi Sunak’s “Stop The Boats” migrant pledge “delusionary”.

Paris was accused of seeing the Channel disaster “as an opportunity to fill their boots” as anger mounted over its failure to stop dinghies leaving its shores.

It comes regardless of a £480 million payout from Britain, which is getting used to double police on French seashores to 800. New figures recommend French authorities stopped 13,759, or 45.2 p.c of migrants, this yr in contrast with 45.8 p.c final yr.

There are UK fears final month’s riots throughout France have drawn officers away from the seashores.

But Sylvie Bermann, France’s ambassador to the UK from 2014 to 2017, mentioned: “We have 150km of coast. It’s very difficult to prevent everyone from going to the UK, in particular if some are desperate to go there and also because you have smugglers. To expect that no one will cross the Channel is totally delusionary.”

Migration Watch UK chairman Alp Mehmet mentioned: “Is it any wonder British taxpayers think they are being taken for a ride?

On top of bogus asylum seekers and criminal gangs, it seems the French government also sees the Channel mess as an opportunity to fill their boots.”

Dover Tory MP, Natalie Elphicke, mentioned: “The reality isn’t an endless expanse of French beaches, it is a few regular points of departure which need to be policed properly, with joint patrols and a cross-Channel agreement to return boats to France.”

Senior Tory MP David Jones added: “If the best they can do is give a Gallic shrug of the shoulders, we should demand our £480million back and refuse to pay them a single cent more.”

In June, Mr Sunak trumpeted an increase in French migrant interceptions. But the quantity has fallen over latest months.

French figures present these stopped on seashores from January to mid-August fell from 17,032 in 2022 to 13,759 this yr.

Lee Anderson, the Tory deputy chairman, informed the Daily Express: “If there are less boats being stopped by France, it’s clearly more important than ever that we continue stop the boats ourselves. Rishi has a great plan. Let’s give him some time, and the results will speak for themselves.”