People smugglers adopt new tactics – including dangerous ‘mega dinghies’ – in bid to get around Labour’s ‘smash the gangs’ policy

People-smuggling gangs are changing tactics to evade the Government's "smash the gangs" strategy, using oversized "mega dinghies" and launching boats from a wider stretch of the French and Belgian coastline to dodge enhanced policing. Officials fear the larger vessels, some longer than a double-decker bus, raise the risk of a mass-casualty disaster on the Channel, even as overall crossing numbers have fallen sharply. This matters because it suggests the smugglers are adapting rather than being deterred, despite significant UK investment in cross-Channel enforcement.

Migrant numbers reaching Britain are down 43 per cent year-on-year, and French police have intercepted ten dinghies at sea since a policy change in spring, following years of British lobbying. However, demand for crossings remains undiminished in northern France's migrant camps, and a mega-dinghy carrying 173 people had to be rescued on Tuesday after its motor caught fire, an incident officials called the closest thing to a mass casualty event seen on the Channel in years. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood struck a £662 million, three-year security deal with France in April, and officials insist it is disrupting the gangs, though the Shadow Home Secretary has questioned French enforcement after witnessing gendarmes decline to intervene during a launch.