Migrant crisis as French ‘unable to stop boats along 300-mile stretch of coastline’_D

French police will not be able to prevent smugglers launching migrant dinghies along a 300-mile stretch of coastline, a former Border Force head has warned.

Tony Smith said it was “inevitable” that trafficking gangs would spread out and launch dinghies on longer journeys.

Smugglers have expanded their routes and launch points to dodge the belated crackdown in Calais and Dunkirk.

And they are using more mega-dinghies, prompting fears of a dangerous new phase in the crisis.

The alarming scenes of 140 migrants being brought into Portsmouth – not Dover – will intensify calls for Britain to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) so that undocumented migrants can be detained and removed.

Mr Smith said: “As far as I can recall, we have never before seen migrant boats coming from this far afield.

“The smugglers won’t give up. This is international organised crime, and it pays well.

“Extra French patrols in Calais and Dunkirk may have reduced overall numbers – but displacement like this is inevitable.

“And it’s hard to see how French police can prevent it, given the length of coastline they would have to cover to do so.

“Unless of course they agree to take them all back from the first point of interdiction, which has always been a step too far for the Macron government.”

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is facing calls to detain and deport every Channel migrant.

Fury erupted after 140 asylum seekers were taken into Portsmouth after being intercepted on a mega-dinghy by two lifeboat vessels.

Hundreds of protesters clashed with police after blocking the road to prevent the coaches carrying the Channel arrivals to a processing centre in Kent.

But many now fear the UK is entering a new phase of the small boats crisis, with people smugglers launching boats from further afield.

The dinghy detected near Portsmouth left the Cherbourg area in Normandy and had been shadowed for roughly 10 hours, it is believed.

Mr Smith said: “The only way to stop this would be to have an effective detention and removals deterrent.

“No undocumented migrant arriving here would ever be granted temporary admission.

“They would all be detained and removed, either to the country they came from, to their own country, or to any other country where they may be admissible.

“Which means excluding all applications for protection (asylum, ECHR and modern slavery) from anyone arriving without a passport and visa for the UK and finding somewhere to detain them and deport them to as swiftly as possible – and placing much greater political pressure on source and transit countries who refuse to take them back.

“But this would offend both international and domestic law under our current legal framework, which is what the Border Force and the Border Security Command are bound by – and the Royal Navy, should they come back into the picture.

“But the more scenes we see like this, the more the pressure will be raised to do more to stop it.”

Conservative MP Alan Mak, who represents the neighbouring Havant constituency, said: “Anyone who arrives in the UK illegally on a small boat should be deported. Labour blocked the Conservative plan to deport illegal arrivals to Rwanda, but that scheme must now be reinstated or a similar scheme introduced.”

Reform’s council leader in Kent, Linden Kemkaran, said: “You need to stop the boats. Now. The country is a pressure cooker, and it’s about to blow. You are an ostrich when we need a lion.”

And Ms Mahmood has been warned migrants will start “to land across the South of England in even greater numbers”.

Reform’s Lee Anderson said: “There is no wonder British people are taking to the streets to vent their anger at the ongoing invasion by undocumented fighting-aged males who have no right to be in this country.

“I have spoken up every week since this invasion started during the last Parliament. What we have seen over the past 24 hours is the next stage of the illegal invasion.

“Migrants will now start to land across the South of England in even greater numbers.

“I fully support the British people who turn up in huge numbers to peacefully protest just as the Pink Ladies have done over the migrant hotels.

“But Reform’s policy is to ban burkas, balaclavas and all face coverings being worn in public, and we condemn attacks on our police.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “The last 24 hours have seen multiple violations of the UK border by mega dinghies full of illegal immigrants, which the French authorities have allowed to depart.

“Andy Burnham and Shabana Mahmood have been boasting about French action, but hundreds of illegal immigrants arriving in just a few hours show this is not working.

“Their weak approach is leaving our border wide open, with almost 20,000 illegal immigrants crossing so far this year.

“Only rough seas have prevented even more crossings. It’s time to implement the Conservative plan – leave the ECHR, and then illegal immigrants can be deported within a week of arrival. That’s the only thing which will stop this.”

Mr Burnham and Mr Macron met in Downing Street last week, insisting the plan is “clearly working”, despite smugglers planning to launch more mega dinghies.

But London and Paris faced ridicule as it was revealed that a new “surge team” of 45 officers deployed to cover areas such as Le Touquet, Berck, Le Treport and Dieppe will not be allowed to enter the water.

The officers, a mix of gendarmes and Police Nationale reservists, will be in addition to the 1,050 already deployed to patrol beaches further north.

People smugglers shifted some of their launch sites west after French police intensified patrols around Calais and Dunkirk. Criminal gangs have forced migrants to spend as long as 18 hours on inflatable dinghies after launching from Dieppe, in Normandy, and making numerous pick-ups from different beaches.

The Daily Express is aware of one dinghy – carrying 173 people – that sank off the coast of Boulogne after launching from Dieppe. And a dinghy carrying a staggering 230 people smashed all records for the biggest boats detected in the Channel.

But the reinforcements will be deployed to stop smugglers from launching dinghies.

And they will not be able to act once the boats enter the water unless the commander gives a specific order to save lives.