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France faced fresh fury after specialist riot officers allowed dozens of migrants to board a boat destined for "El Dorado". A group of asylum seekers rushed into the water near Dunkirk and waited for smugglers to arrive on a small boat because they believed they'd get cash and a free house.

France's CRS - a force known for crowd control - watched on as migrants fell into the water amid chaotic scenes on Malo-les-Bains beach. One woman had to be held up to prevent her from being submerged, while dozens of men bundled onto the dinghy.

The dereliction was branded "disgraceful" as Paris continues to ask Labour for more cash. And the Daily Express can reveal there are growing frustrations within Border Force over Keir Starmer's "one-in-one-out" deal with Emmanuel Macron, with some officers believing it "isn't a deterrent".

A senior source told the Daily Express: "At this stage, we would want to be returning 200 a week. We are returning 30, and we are accepting 40/50 a week - the net migration resulting from this is going up.

"We can only detain 75 new arrivals. So, if we are only removing 30 people a week, the detention estate just isn't there. Operation Hillmore isn't a deterrent.

"We need more resources. Detention spaces, charter aircraft spaces to get people out and more cooperation with the French, but they are their own sovereign nation.

"They don't want these people there, even if Britain pays them for it.

"There's no reason to believe overall flows of migration will be any lower than they have been in the previous years. I just don't think they realised what the blockages were.

"They weren't listening to the staff who were telling them.

"We support people. We educate people. We do it all. But we do it for longer than other countries, and it is because the system is much slower. If you are not part of Operation Hillmore, you could be here five to eight years before anyone catches up to you.

"If you want to work here and send money back, it is much, much easier to do that here."

Britain has given France £700 million to bolster police patrols, increase surveillance and purchase new military-grade drones to stop Channel migrant crossings.

But French officers are only intercepting a third of attempts, down from 50% when the £475m deal between Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron was struck.

The Daily Express understands French police have stopped boats "multiple times" in the water in the last month.

But British and French officials are still developing their tactics, which could be rolled out more widely in the future.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "It is disgraceful that French police, who have been funded with hundreds of millions of pounds of British taxpayers' money, are standing idly by while floods of illegal immigrants embark to cross the Channel.

"France should not receive another penny until they start acting to stop these illegal immigrants."

And the UK has failed to agree a new £650m deal with France to reduce Channel migrant crossings.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is demanding that French officers hit new targets for reducing migrant crossings and increase patrols in return for the extra £175m it has asked for. But Paris has refused Ms Mahmood's demands.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told the Daily Express: "The UK is without doubt an El Dorado for migrants and at the same time, it is a national security crisis. With the amount of terrorism and bad people in the world, a national emergency must be declared. We've got the summer months coming."

Addressing growing concern over the one-in-one-out deal, Mr Farage said: "These are all gimmicks. None of it works, and we've now had years of this, going back to 2018 when Sajid Javid declared an emergency.

"One-in-one-out is just the low point of the whole thing. It was never, ever going to work and quite why any of them think we believe anything they say is quite beyond me.

"The pull factors are just way too big. I said in 2020, when I first started going out and exposing this, going out into the Channel, you might as well put a sign on the White Cliffs of Dover saying 'everybody welcome', nobody will be deported.

"That stands today. The situation is absolutely awful, and I can't see a single prospect of the Government doing anything about it."

British officials are desperately travelling to France to try and convince migrants that the UK is no longer dishing out taxpayer-funded homes, cash and subsidised activities.

Claude Picarda, who helps run the Croisilles Reception and Assessment Centre, said Government representatives have "been coming once a month since October" to try and convince people to stay in France.

Referring to the mythical land paved with gold, Alain Boulanger, the director of the centre, said: "More than 90% want to cross the Channel to reach Great Britain, which remains an El Dorado.

"They debunk common misconceptions - that you'll get a job, housing, and legal status. The idea is also to tell migrants that there are legal ways to travel to Great Britain from France.'

"We tell them continually that it potentially means losing their lives. But our arguments run up against the allure of this country [Britain].

"Some already have interests there - family, a place to settle, money they sent ahead of them to avoid being robbed. Most of them also speak the language."

Mr Philp added: "This is pathetic. So long as Shabana Mahmood continues to provide cushy hotel accommodation at taxpayers' expense in the UK, then the single male migrants will continue to flood across the Channel.

"Going over and telling them not to bother crossing will make no difference whatsoever when they will know a hotel room funded by British taxpayers awaits them, and they have less than a 5% chance of being removed from the UK.

"This desperate measure from a weak Home Secretary is a joke.

"If she wants to stop illegal immigration, then she must adopt the Conservative plan to leave the ECHR and deport all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival.

"Then they won't bother trying to cross in the first place."

Ms Mahmood will revoke European laws that automatically provide support to arrivals.

From June, the handouts will become "conditional" and will only be given to those "who genuinely need it and follow the law".

Those who work in Britain's black economy will also be thrown out of hotels, houses, flats and bedsits funded by taxpayers, alongside foreign criminals and those refusing to leave the UK voluntarily.

Explaining the attraction of the centre to UK-bound migrants, Mr Boulanger said: "When the final destination [the Channel Coast] is only 30 km [18.6 miles] away, after having walked 6,000 km [3728 miles] to get there, it is very difficult to dissuade someone from crossing the Channel.

"Some try, fail, and eventually put down their belongings. But this is by no means the majority. The people smugglers, for their part, tell a different story. And then there are those who have already crossed and who call their friends [to join them]."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "French law enforcement must use every tool at their disposal to prevent illegal small boat crossings like this one.

"Multiple successful French prevention efforts have taken place this week alone, both on land and at sea. This builds on the over 42,000 crossings attempts already prevented since the election.

"We have been clear that French law enforcement and intelligence operations will continue while we finalise a new and improved UK-France deal."