France has threatened to arrest Britons who attempt to stop migrant crossings — as activists are accused of **slashing dinghies bound for Dover

France is considering arresting British nationals who try to stop migrant crossings  after several activists were accused of slashing dinghies.

The French interior minister, Laurent Nunez, has warned that any Brits interfering with the crossings could be arrested for possible obstruction and aggravated violence, according to local reports.

He has supposedly stepped up efforts to stop such incidents following a number of vigilante-style actions by members of the Raise the Colours movement.

The group, which spearheaded a drive to raise Union Jacks and St George’s cross flags across the country, have been travelling to beaches along the French coast to disrupt migrants as they try to board dinghies crossing the Channel.

They claim they have been forced to take matters into their own hands following failures by the UK and French authorities and have launched Operation Overlord, a reference to the Normandy landings in WW2, to curb the crossings.

Videos posted on social media in recent months show members, including co-founder Ryan Bridge, racing across the sand searching for migrants and supposedly sabotaging small boats that had been bound for the UK.

But in a bid to stop any further actions, Nunez has now ‘requested that members of these groups be identified, apprehended if they act, and that measures to obstruct them be considered’, a source close to the minister told La Voix Du Nord.

He has also ‘taken monitoring and coordination measures at various levels… in response to these activities’, the source added.

French interior minister, Laurent Nunez, has threatened to arrest British nationals who try to stop migrant crossings

Debris of a small boat used by people thought to be migrants to cross the Channel lays amongst the sand dunes in Gravelines, France, on December 11

A group of migrants on an inflatable dinghy leave the beach of Petit-Fort-Philippe in northern France in September last year

Responding to the threats, a Raise the Colours source told The Telegraph that the French ‘should be putting more effort into actually stopping the migrant boats’ rather than focusing on the group’s actions.

‘I doubt this will stop the people who are trying to stop the crossings,’ they added.

While the group claims that over 5,000 people have offered their support to stop the boats, other French groups have accused them of taking part in ‘intimidation tactics’.

A group of nine French organisations working to help migrants, including L’Auberge des Migrants, Utopia 56, Medecins du Monde, Human Rights Observers and the Refugee Women’s Centre, issued a statement last month in response to the actions.

It read: ‘Structured intimidation tactics, reported, yet without an effective response from the authorities.

‘None of their publications aimed at recruiting, informing and funding their activities have been removed and none of them have been subject to any measures denying them entry to French territory.

‘These inaction measures contribute to normalising and encouraging violent and xenophobic practices that directly threaten exiled people and their support organisations.’

A total of 41,472 migrants arrived in the UK in 2025 after crossing the English Channel, the second highest annual figure on record, putting paid to Keir Starmer‘s vow to smash smuggling gangs and cut small boat crossings.

The Home Office confirmed on Thursday that no migrants made the journey on New  Year’s Eve meaning the overall number of arrivals last year finished 9 per cent below the all-time high of 45,774 in 2022.

Embarrassingly for the Government, the total for 2025 was 13 per cent higher than the figure for 2024, when 36,816 migrants made the journey, and 41 per cent higher than 2023’s total of 29,437.

More and more people seeking asylum are packing themselves into boats, with an average of 62 arrivals per boat last year, up from 53 in 2024 and 49 in 2022.

Keir Starmer is also less than 1,000 migrants away from an unwanted record – having the most people cross the Channel in his premiership after less than two years.

As of yesterday, 64,714 people have made the journey after 545 days in office, at a rate of 118 a day. Boris Johnson saw 65,676 people cross during his time in Government after 1,140 days – an average of just 57 a day.

The Conservatives and Reform have both blasted Labour’s failure to tackle the growing small boats crisis and to deport those who arrive illegally, blaming Starmer’s reluctance to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘Small boat crossings are the inevitable product of a system that guarantees entry and obstructs removal.

‘As long as the ECHR sits at the centre of our asylum system, illegal immigration is effectively hardwired in. Until Labour confront that reality, nothing they announce will ever change the outcome.

‘There is no deterrent and anyone who crosses the Channel know they can invoke human rights law and remain indefinitely. Labour lack the backbone to confront that truth.’

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to ‘smash the gangs’ had been ‘a complete disaster’ and the ‘one in, one out’ deal with France is a ‘farce’.

‘The numbers coming over are huge,’ he said. ‘Many of the young men that have arrived last year will do us great harm.’