Humiliation for Keir Starmer as France stopping even fewer small boats after Macron deal

Sir Keir Starmer has been dealt a humiliating blow as his one-in, one-out migrant deal with France has resulted in fewer crossings prevented. New data shows that 28.7% of attempts by migrants to cross the Channel to Britain have been successfully stopped by French police since the deal took effect in August. However, this is nearly a 10% decline compared to the equivalent 13-week period before the prime minister struck the deal with President Emmanuel Macron.

38% of crossings were prevented in the lead up to the deal, which the prime minister hailed as "groundbreaking" at the time of the announcement. Analysis of official data, revealed by The Telegraph, shows that the French police stopped 8,521 crossings in the 13 weeks before the scheme. This figure fell to just 4,635 in the 13 weeks afterwards.

Under the deal, France vowed to adopt tougher measures which included officers intervening with boats at sea, within 300 meters of the beaches. This aimed to intercept the taxi boats before they crossed the Channel.

However, concerns over the migrants safety has caused a delay in the tactics, as officials believe lives may be put at risk.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said France "preventing only a quarter of embarkation attempts is pathetic".

"No wonder migrants are using videos of French police standing around to illustrate how easy it is to cross," he told the newspaper.

"I saw this myself when I went to the Calais area in the summer with French police ushering illegal immigrants onto a public bus towards embarkation points. We have seen 2,000 illegal immigrants cross in a four-day period recently. The Government has lost control of our borders."

The data, first identified by think tank Civitas, also shows there was only a small drop in the number of arrivals in Britain after the scheme began. 13,920 migrants arrived in the 13 weeks before the deal, and 11,518 arrived in the 13 weeks afterwards.

Jim McConalogue, chief executive of the Civitas, said: "Given the purpose of the deal and its deterrent effect, we should ask questions as to why, in the presence of a small decrease in arrivals following the deal, we are looking at an over 45% drop in migrants being stopped."

A Home Office spokesman said: "We are furious at the level of illegal migrants entering the country on small boats. Joint operations with the French have intercepted over 20,000 illegal migrants entering the country over the last year.

"However, we must go further with the French to prevent boats entering our waters and scale up the removal of illegal migrants. The Government will do whatever it takes to secure our borders."