French police sparked fury after revealing officers don’t “really want to go into the water” to stop record numbers of migrants.

Union barons complained about a lack of training and equipment, adding they haven’t received any new orders.

But the Daily Express can reveal French police could be ordered to start intercepting migrant dinghies in the water next week.

Senior UK sources have told this newspaper operations will be ramped up “imminently”, with the Government expecting France to finally follow through on repeated promises “next week”.

A senior border source told the Daily Express the move is “aimed at stopping the taxi boats that travel from inland canals out to the Channel, picking up migrants along the way”.

This follows “pilot schemes” over the Summer, when officers were seen wading into the water and slashing migrant dinghies, forcing people back onto the beaches.

Former Border Force Director General Tony Smith told the Daily Express: “Maritime borders are renowned across the world as being the most difficult to control.

“The constant threat of loss of life by drowning demands a cautious approach under the law of the sea, which (reasonably) assumes that most people in unsafe vessels at sea will be seeking rescue.

“Not so, in the case of desperate migrants and the human smugglers who prey on them. They will do all they can to avoid being “rescued” by the French police – even to the extent of scuppering the vessel or throwing people into the sea.

“Ultimately, we cannot control what the French police do. We can only control what we do.

“That means detaining and removing anyone arriving here by small boat, to break the smugglers business model which has haunted us for far too long now.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper secured an agreement from her French counterpart Bruno Retailleau earlier this year.

It came after Mr Retailleau said that Paris has to do more to end the Channel migrant crisis.

He added: “We have to deal with the crossings.

“Up until now, we considered it to be a French doctrine that we would save people on the seas – but that we would take no risk whatsoever.

“So we would accompany the people on the boats.

“I’ve seen a number of videos where the taxi boats come close to the coast to pick up the migrants in water that’s not very deep, and I think that our gendarmes cannot intervene.

“We need to change that doctrine of intervention.”

But senior French police chiefs condemned a lack of officers, training and equipment.

And one admitted police do not “really want to go into the water to stop people”.

In a stark assessment, Marc Musiol, a UN1TE representative for border police at Calais, Dunkirk, and Coquelles, declared “there’s nothing on the horizon to suggest that we’re going to change the way we work”.

He said: “As of today, the personnel of the general service unit here at Coquelles have not received any new intervention doctrines.

“Police, in their interventions and modus operandi on the beaches … are still intervening in the same way and there’s nothing on the horizon to suggest that we’re going to change the way we work.”

In June, the French cabinet agreed to allow officers to intercept migrant boats within 300 metres of the coast.

The tactic is considered crucial to preventing people smugglers launching so-called “taxi-boats”, where migrants wade out into the water and wait for a dinghy.

This leads to chaotic scenes as asylum seekers try to haul themselves onto already dangerously overcrowded boats.

Jean-Christophe Couvy, general secretary of UN1TE, added: “As a union member, I’m going to tell my colleagues not to go into the water.”

Mr Couvy said officers were yet to receive any instructions about intercepting small boats at sea.

He added: “We can’t ask officers to risk their lives without protection. I don’t want a police officer to drown because we ask him to go into the water and stop migrants.

“I don’t think officers really want to go into the water to stop people. It’s not part of our duties. If we do it to save people, that’s different.”

Cedric Castes, the national delegate for border police at UN1TE, also blasted the rollout of the plan.

He said: “We don’t want police officers to be blamed for poor instructions and poor training, because we know very well how things work. If there’s an incident, if there are deaths, police officers can be blamed.

“I unfortunately have a lot of doubts about the dangers it represents. On the face of it, there’s ministerial pressure to be able to intervene at sea, but in practice, the departments haven’t necessarily found the solution to avoid tragedies.”

Home Office insiders had hoped French police would start intercepting migrant dinghies this summer. They initially anticipated changes in May. But the French cabinet did not agree on key tactical details until June.

More than 14,000 migrants have crossed the Channel over this period – almost half of small boat arrivals this year. Almost 29,000 people have been detected crossing in dinghies this year.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Keir Starmer staked Britain’s border security on promises from Paris and those promises are collapsing before our eyes.

“French police are openly refusing to intercept the boats and crossings are at record highs. This is the deal Labour bet everything on. But from its announcement we have known it is a hollow agreement littered with endless loopholes.

“Since Labour came to power more than 52,000 people have crossed the Channel illegally. This year is the worst ever for illegal immigrants crossing the channel, it is a border crisis, and Labour is too weak to fix it.

“Only the Conservatives have a credible plan to stop the crossings, end the hotels, and restore control with our Deportation Bill.”

Home Office figures revealed French police prevented just 1,852 migrants from crossing the Channel over the last two weeks of July and the first two of August. This was a sharp drop from 2,898 over a similar period last summer.

It comes as new figures revealed more than 180,000 people have crossed the Channel since the crisis began in 2018.

Another 659 people were detected in nine boats on Bank Holiday Monday as smugglers continued to wreak havoc. On Sunday, 212 people were also rescued. Home Office records show at least 28,947 have crossed this year. Some 3,511 have arrived in August alone. And 52,189 crossed in small boats since Labour came into power in July 2024.