Migrants were pictured wading into the sea and boarding a dinghy at Petit-Fort-Philippe, near Gravelines in northern France, in a fresh attempt to cross the Channel to Britain, days after Andy Burnham and Emmanuel Macron pledged joint action against the small boats crisis. It is unclear whether the vessel was intercepted, but the images highlight the continuing scale of the problem despite the political commitments and come hours after a masked mob linked to the hard-Right blockaded the Port of Dover in protest.

Burnham and Macron met at No 10 this week to announce a British-funded "surge team" of French police aimed at tackling "mega-dinghies" capable of carrying up to 230 migrants, though officials confirmed this amounts to just 45 extra officers, prompting Conservative criticism that the plan is a "joke". While overall summer crossings have fallen to their lowest level since 2019, smugglers appear to be compensating by packing more people onto fewer, larger boats. Separately, hundreds of protesters brought Dover to a standstill on Friday, causing four-mile tailbacks and missed ferries, while Nigel Farage has pledged to halt crossings within his first 100 days in government, alongside plans for an emergency Budget cutting £80billion in public spending.