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The French weren't ready for a surge in migrant crossings despite a new "dedicated" unit of specialist police officers being mobilised, the Daily Express can reveal.

France stopped just 184 on Saturday as a record 1,195 migrants reached British waters on 19 small boats.

London and Paris agreed in February to establish the Compagnie de Marche, a group of specialist officers with "elite public order powers".

This unit was mobilised last month, the Daily Express understands, leading to claims the French Government are "laughing at us" and "taking us for fools" as they rake in hundreds of millions of pounds.

The Compagnie de Marche will eventually be charged with intercepting boats in the water.

A Border Force source told the Daily Express: "We expected the French to be ready for Saturday, it was like a millpond out there. The new elite force they've set up really needs to step up now."

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs on Monday that criminal gangs will "likely" have made millions of pounds from crossings this weekend alone, and that further discussions with the French interior minister will take place this week on stronger action.

Former Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said: "The French Government are taking us for fools. British taxpayers and forking out huge amounts, only for some French officers to act as bystanders to flagrant criminality. Starmer needs to get a grip or we will see record illegal crossings this year."

Reform UK MP Lee Anderson told the Daily Express: "The French are laughing at us. The more money we send over there, the more illegal migrants they send over here. It is time to stop the payments and return these illegal invaders the same day.

"Only Reform UK will end this madness created by the Tories which is now being escalated by Starmer who has spent his whole career putting the interests of others before the UK."

The Daily Express last week revealed only 8,347 asylum seekers have been prevented from reaching UK waters in a small boat this year. Another 184 were stopped on Saturday. This is an interception rate of just 38%, down from 45% last year.

The Home Office revealed more than 26,000 migrants were prevented from crossing the Channel in 2023, down from 33,791 in 2022. And fury erupted over the weekend when French officers were spotted standing idly by, even taking photographs, as migrants climbed into a dinghy.

The total of 1,195 is the highest total in the first five months of a calendar year. Some 14,812 migrants have crossed the English Channel this year, up from 10,448 in 2024, and nearly double the number from 2023. Britain has agreed to pay France £480million to stop more Channel migrant crossings.

This includes £175m in the current financial year - more than £480,000 every day. Officials have warned that the Channel migrant crisis is "endemic" and that there is unlikely to be any drop in the number of crossings until 2026 at the earliest.

And a leading French MP sensationally blamed Britain's decision to quit the EU for the surge in Channel migrant crossings. Éléonore Caroit, a member of Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party, repeated claims that the UK is an "El Dorado" to migrants because of "attractive" benefits.

She said: "One thing is for sure, the numbers are increasing - but they have been increasing since Brexit, after the UK is no longer part of the Dublin Regulation and has a very weak asylum policy." Ms Caroit admitted that "once the boats are in the water, it is impossible for the French policemen to actually intercept them".

She added: "It's a matter of legislation, but it's also a matter, again, of what happened after Brexit. Before, it was easier to have the migrants return. We need increased co-operation between the UK and the French, the authorities and policemen, so that we can actually have a clear division of what can be done when the boats are in the water.

"And most importantly, it is important to deter these boats from actually wanting to go to the UK. Because unless we stop this, we can put more money into it, there will be more boats."

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp blasted Paris, declaring: "The French prevention rate on land is lamentably under 40% and even then, they are stopped and released to attempt a crossing again the next day. Although she talks about action at sea, nothing has happened whatsoever.

"We saw those pictures at the weekend of the French police just standing there, taking photographs, while illegal immigrants departed, so does the Home Secretary agree the recent 12-year fishing deal should be suspended until the French agree to stop those small boats at sea and prevent illegal immigration."

Ms Cooper hit back: "When he was immigration minister, he said 'I will continue to push my French counterparts to look hard at inceptions at sea'. But five years of Conservative Government later, the French Government hadn't agreed to any changes at all.

"This Government has reached a new agreement and we're now pressing for this to be operationalised as swiftly as possible."

Armed Forces minister Luke Pollard had told LBC earlier in the day the deal will be "activated shortly".

He added: "That will require the French to take their action, to remove people from the water. We want to see greater co-operation."