Britain must hold Emmanuel Macron's feet firmly to the fire over France's abject failure to stop the boats
BRITAIN must hold Emmanuel Macron's feet firmly to the fire this week over France's abject failure to stop the boats.
The president will be accorded all the royal trappings on his state visit, including a carriage ride through Windsor.
But he must also account for the tens of millions of pounds we have lavished on France to curb illegal migrant crossings — only to see the numbers surge.
We reveal today that President Macron will unveil a new tactic to sabotage the dinghies before they leave French waters for the UK.
Under the plans, French border police will ride jet skis alongside migrant boats and drop nets to entangle the engines.
It does rely on a hitherto reluctant gendarmerie getting their feet wet.
But, after the puncturing of a dinghy last week, France may at last be waking up to its responsibilities.
Without a proper deterrent like the scrapped Rwanda scheme, the unscrupulous people-smugglers will always try to get one step ahead of the law.
But anything that can turn the tide after years of French foot-dragging must be welcome, and one thing is for sure:
The cops patrolling the beaches of Calais won't get anywhere unless they do more than just dip a toe in the water.
Give us shelter
THE Government's latest nanny state health crackdown is one of its strangest yet.
Transport chiefs are to be given powers to fine people for vaping at bus stops, even if they are the only person there.
French cops FINALLY drag migrant boat to shore - with BBC crew conveniently filming
The move comes hard on the heels of Health Secretary Wes Streeting's threats to punish supermarkets that fail to cut sales of unhealthy food.
He has already been forced to back down on plans to ban smoking in pub gardens.
There is no doubt vaping is bad for children, who should be protected.
But adults must be left to make their own informed choices.
Labour must stop dreaming up sixth-form gimmicks that are doomed to go up in fruit-flavoured smoke.
PIP squeak
That means tribunal judges are overturning thousands of
Government rulings that would reduce the taxpayer-funded benefits bill.
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