British and French Border Force vessels should use Australian-style push-back tactics at sea against migrants’ Channel small boats, a leading French MP has said.

Marc de Fleurian, an MP in Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party, said the two countries should use the “push back and pull back” tactics to prevent small boats reaching the UK.

Previous attempts to introduce such measures have foundered after legal challenges but the French Government has agreed for the first time to intervene at sea to stop boats leaving within 300 metres of the shoreline. 

Mr Fleurian, who is also president of the National Rally group on Calais council, said the move would be one of three measures that his party would introduce if it won the presidential elections in April 2027.

“The first one is to allow both the British and French navies to proceed to push back from the British side and pull back from the French side,” he said.

“The [approach] needs to be formalised so that the navies are allowed not only to rescue the migrants but to prevent them from being able to travel freely in the sea.”