Overview

• France will allow police and gendarmes to intercept small ‘taxi boats’ carrying asylum seekers within 300 metres of the coast from July under a new doctrine.
• Paris is poised to request additional funding from the UK to cover the costs of extra officers, drones and surveillance equipment for the operation.
• The policy shift responds to people smugglers launching boats further offshore after UK and French authorities blocked inland waterways with floating dams.
• Britain’s Home Office has yet to decide on further contributions and still has unspent funds from the £480 million deal signed in 2023.
• Charities and non-governmental organisations, including Care4Calais, have announced plans to challenge the interceptions in French or European courts.