French officers halted small boats at sea 10 times since spring

From the publisher

The French authorities have halted small boats at sea in the Channel on 10 occasions since the spring, officials said on Friday. Despite claims from the Conservatives and Reform that the French were refusing to intervene in small boat crossings, maritime prefect officers were using “intervention tactics” to board or control vessels at sea and take asylum seekers back to France. The disclosure comes as political parties are once again attempting to seize the initiative over small boats over the summer. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, last week confronted French police on a beach near Boulogne and uploaded footage to X of an officer saying: “Our order is to…

The source's own excerpt, unedited