FRENCH officials faced fury last night for failing to stop small boat crossings – as their latest effort was revealed as a ‘’pathetic’’ dam “that wouldn’t stop a duck”.
Authorities in Calais were told to step up patrols and enforcement after six migrants drowned in the Channel on Saturday.
France’s dam ‘deterrent’ across the River Canche
Tory MPs accused them of being blatantly “not interested” in tackling the smuggling gangs despite billing British taxpayers half a billion pounds for their help.
One ex-Cabinet Minister raged last night: “We’re giving them £500million with zero accountability. It’s madness.”
Criticism intensified after local French officials erected a row of buoys across a popular river used by the traffickers to get inland migrants to the beaches.
Pics show it anchored by concrete pads on either side of the bed of the Canche river near Boulonnais which then flows into the Channel.
It was erected on Thursday, two days before the tragedy.
Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith said: “Defences such as this wouldn’t stop a duck and makes a mockery of the whole situation, which is leading to an increasing number of tragic deaths in the Channel.”
Conservative Nigel Mills added: “This is hopeless and pathetic. It shows the French are not taking this seriously enough. Any people smuggler will laugh their socks off at that.”
And Dover MP Natalie Elphicke piled in: “A makeshift barrier in the sea is no substitute for proper law enforcement to stop migrants boarding dangerous dinghies and launching them from the French coast. They must up their game.”
Rishi Sunak’s deal with the Emmanual Macron to reduce boat crossings came under fresh scrutiny after it emerged French ships were escorting the dinghies which sank on Saturday.
In March the PM announced the UK would give France £480million over three years to increase police patrols and technology to catch the boats.
He has claimed more boats are being intercepted, but privately figures in government admit that most migrants who are intercepted simply try again later.
Last week the number of small boat migrants surpassed 100,000 and 750 landed in one day for the highest daily total this year yet.
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