Violent illegal migrants pelt French police with rocks while they slash their dinghy
Shocking new footage has shown wannabe small boat migrants attacking French police as they attempt to cross the English Channel.
Life jacket-clad migrants can be seen hurling projectiles at officers to try to keep them away from a large dinghy as it prepares to launch from a beach.
The video, released by the Home Office, shows police then deploying pepper spray to ward off the attackers.
Pushing them away, the officers then appear to slash the dinghy with a knife and put an end to that attempt to break into Britain.
French police have tried to talk up how they have stopped 185 "small boat crossing events" in the three months after the UK-France deal.
That number accounts for 61 per cent of all crossing attempts - a five per cent rise on the same period last year, but lower than the three months before the deal was signed off.
But in the same timeframe, 130 "small" boats got past French patrols, bringing a total of 8,916 migrants to Britain.
France's police say the "crossing events" are defined as stopping launches, seizing equipment including boats, engines and lifejackets, and arresting smugglers.
Since the signing of the deal in April, extra police units are active on French beaches including a 50-person riot squad.
Police action has included interceptions on beaches and at sea, the Home Office said.
But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp - who has visited France's beaches and watched as police stand by and watch the boats head to Kent - offered his verdict on the extraordinary slashing footage last night.
Mr Philp told GB News that he had "seen with my own eyes and I've heard with my own ears that the French haven't been doing anything".
"Now, the fact that this particular unit appeared to be slashing the boat is different. Maybe that is a change of policy. If it is, it's welcome," he said.
"We did see this happen a year ago, once, just before a summit between Sir Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron. They did it once.
"And now it may be that the adverse publicity generated by my visit a couple of weeks ago has prompted the French to take action in this one case.
"But I don't think we can take too much comfort until we see this happening not just once, but day in, day out, week in, week out, on a routine basis."
With Britain and France keen to hail their crackdown, the notorious smuggling gangs have started changing their tactics and loading more people into single boats.
Earlier this month, a record 230 people made the journey in the biggest mega dinghy on record - that's more people than can fit on a Boeing 737.
Jean-Marc Lamblin, the director of the SNSM - France's equivalent to the RNLI - said: "For the past three months, we've been seeing more and more 15-metre boats.
"We recently passed the record of 150. We didn't think there could be more, but there really seems to be no limit anymore."
Reform UK has proposed using the Royal Navy to intercept and return migrants to France or Belgium in what would mark the biggest military mobilisation in the Channel since World War Two.
Its home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said "nobody" would be able to reach British shores by small boat under the scheme.
France, however, has claimed the plan "would be a violation of French sovereignty as well as a violation of maritime law and international law".
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Our new UK-France deal is already having a real impact, stopping crossings before they happen and disrupting the criminal gangs behind them.
“People smugglers should be in no doubt, we’re taking down their operations, seizing their equipment and breaking their business model for good.
“Through our joint work with France, we have stopped over 47,000 small boat crossing attempts since the election and we will not let up.”
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