Labour plan to use jet skies to thwart small boats crossing channel amid illegal immigration crisis

JET skis will be used to stop small boats under plans being floated in the Home Office to get a grip on illegal migration.

The Sun can reveal that ministers are looking at innovative new tactics to thwart Channel crossings.

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One method would see French officers on jet skis deploy netting in shallow water that would jam the dinghy’s propeller and bring it to a safe stop.

A government insider familiar with the plans likened it to how police use spike strips to burst a car’s tyres.

It is understood the Home Office are preparing to discuss using the gambit with their French counterparts.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is keen for Calais cops to do more to prevent crossings for the £500million of UK funding they have received.

She has already convinced French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to change his country’s law so they can turn boats around in the shallows.

Ms Cooper is under pressure to slash small boat crossings, which are around 30 per cent higher this year than last.

Some 11,516 illegal migrants have made the perilous Channel crossing already this year, compared to 8,826 in the same period in 2024.

The Tories have slammed Labour for axing the Rwanda deportation plan, which they claimed would have been a deterrent for would-be illegal migrants.

Instead Ms Cooper has focused on pouring money and resources into tackling criminal smuggling gangs organising the crossings.

A plan to use jet skis was first devised by then Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel in 2021.

However her idea was for mounted Border Force officers to intercept the craft in British waters and spin them back towards France.

That method was never implemented following fears it would be too dangerous and could breach international law.

Next week Ms Cooper will reveal her long-awaited blueprint to rein in record numbers of legal migrants.

While mainly dedicated to cutting the amount of visas issued, the White Paper is also expected to address foreign offenders weaponising European human rights laws to dodge deportations.