France sparks outrage after blaming the deaths of 12 migrants in the Channel on Britain’s ‘soft touch’ rules

France’s interior minister claims Britain’s “soft” rules on illegal migrants are to blame for the recent small boat disaster in the Channel.

A pregnant woman and six children were among those killed on Tuesday when their boat was “torn apart” and sank off the northern French coast of Cap Gris-Nez.

Gérald Darmanin said in his statement that the UK is a place “where you can work without papers and where you have little chance of being deported”.

He added that the latest victims were “people from the Horn of Africa” and that only eight of the approximately 80 people, most of them Africans from Eritrea, had life jackets and that the boat was struggling in the rough sea.

$G\u00e9rald Darmanin spoke about how the chance of deportation 'is small'$

Gérald Darmanin spoke about how the chance of deportation ‘is small’

Darmanin is said to have called for a UK-EU migration treaty to curb border crossings in the wake of the tragedy. But Downing Street has rejected this, with a spokesman saying: “We have no plans to be part of an EU asylum scheme, but we will continue to work with European partners to close smuggling routes and crush those criminal gangs.”

Eyewitnesses on a beach in Wimereux, near the scene of Tuesday’s incident, described how a large group of migrants in a small rowing boat, many of whom dangle their legs over the edge.

The boat, which was filmed by the media for more than an hour as it slowly moved out to sea as passers-by walked their dogs along the beach, was reportedly approached by a patrol boat flying a French flag, with a crew member throwing more life jackets to the migrants. Meanwhile, a larger French patrol boat boat followed the sloop from a distance.

Angele Vettorello, from Utopia 56, which supports displaced and homeless migrants in France, told reporters: “The border crossings, they don’t stop. Even this morning we saw more than 200 people trying to cross and being stopped (by police). We see it every month… every death at the border, people don’t stop crossing.”

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French police officers patrol the beach between Ambleteusse and WimereuxGETTY

Dozens of migrants continued to make the journey on Wednesday, with more people seen being brought ashore in Dover, Kent, in calm sea conditions.

At the same time, a charity in Calais told how around 200 migrants were spotted earlier that morning attempting to cross from the French coast but were stopped by police. Home Office figures show that 317 migrants made the journey in five days boats on Tuesday, which amounts to an average of approximately 63 people per boat.

This brings the provisional total number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year to 21,720 – up 3 per cent on this time last year (21,086) but down 19 per cent on the same point in 2022 (26,692), according to analysis of government data by the PA news agency.

According to the latest count, more than 8,000 new seats have been registered since Labour won the general election and Sir Keir Starmer entered Number 10 (8,146).

Sixty-five people were rescued in Tuesday’s incident. The prime minister called the incident “shocking and deeply tragic” and told MPs in the House of Commons: “We must be determined to put an end to this.”

His comments came after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said “vital” efforts to dismantle “dangerous and criminal smuggling gangs” and improve border security “must continue apace”.