The UK will pay France an additional £16.2 million to maintain police patrols on Channel beaches under a two-month stopgap arrangement, after negotiators failed to agree a permanent deal before a midnight deadline. The interim measure aims to prevent a surge in small-boat crossings while talks continue.
French negotiators refused to agree to UK demands for further interventions and patrols to stop asylum seekers reaching the UK via the Channel. It is understood that the French government also declined to guarantee that patrols would continue without extra funds.
The temporary deal, signed off by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, follows a deadlock over plans to revamp the three-year, £478 million agreement that lapsed on Tuesday. Home Office negotiators had insisted on a “huge surge” of extra officers and a guarantee of increased small-boat interventions by French officials. Paris expressed concern that UK demands could put the lives of asylum seekers and French officers at greater risk.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The home secretary is driving a hard bargain with the French to deliver the best deal for the British people, prevent migrants boarding boats and to save lives. We want more bang for our buck.” The UK currently pays nearly two-thirds of the annual cost of patrols in northern France, and Mahmood is seeking to link future funding to an increase in interceptions.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage criticised the deal, saying he would end any agreement with France. Home Office sources responded that the funding was vital to prevent a much larger number of crossings, with a source close to Mahmood stating: “Ultimately, does Nigel Farage really want 42,000 more migrants coming to Britain? Because that’s the cost since the election that the deal has presented.”
Nearly 700 officers from units dedicated to intercepting small boats will continue to patrol the French coastline, supported by surveillance and vehicles. The talks to renew the patrol deal are separate from negotiations on a migrant returns agreement with France, which expires in June.
