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New three-year deal aims to curb Channel crossings
The UK will fund a £662 million package to bolster French efforts to stop illegal migrant crossings in the English Channel, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced ahead of Thursday's signing. The agreement includes deploying at least 50 riot-trained police officers to French beaches to counter violence and hostile crowds.
Enhanced surveillance and enforcement
Under the deal, France will deploy drones, two helicopters, and a new camera system to intercept smugglers and migrants. A dedicated vessel and over 20 maritime officers will target so-called taxi boats used to ferry migrants across the Channel. The total force in northern France will rise to nearly 1,100 officers, including law enforcement, intelligence, and military personnel-a 42% increase from the previous arrangement.
Conditional funding and political backlash
For the first time, the UK has tied £100 million of the funding to performance, threatening to redirect or withdraw the money after one year if France fails to meet unspecified targets. The previous 2023 deal, worth £476 million, included unpublished metrics but did not link funding to results.
Opposition parties criticized the agreement. Conservative MP and shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused the government of handing over "half a billion pounds with no conditions," while Reform UK's Zia Yusuf called it an "abhorrent misuse" of taxpayer money that could fund domestic services like healthcare and policing.
Rising crossings and French tactics
Channel crossings have surged in recent years, with 41,472 arrivals in 2025 and over 6,000 in the first months of 2026. On Saturday alone, 602 migrants arrived in Dover on nine boats. French authorities claim they intercept boats at sea to prevent migrants from boarding, but critics argue enforcement has weakened.
In the past two months, France stopped six boats, returned all migrants, and sentenced five smugglers to prison and deportation. However, experts note French police remain cautious about intervening in crowded boats due to safety concerns. Meghan Benton of the Migration Policy Institute told BBC Radio 4 that "there is a real floor on how aggressive the French are willing to be."
Broader migration policies
The deal follows a separate "one-in-one-out" agreement signed in August 2025, allowing the UK to return some small boat arrivals to France while admitting an equivalent number of migrants from France who did not attempt the crossing. As of February, 305 people had been returned to France under the scheme, while 367 arrived in the UK.
The UK government also reported removing or deporting nearly 60,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals since taking office. However, advocacy groups like the Refugee Council argue that policing alone cannot address the root causes driving migrants to risk dangerous crossings. Imran Hussain, the council's director of external affairs, emphasized the need for safe routes to the UK to prevent such journeys.
What's next
The new agreement takes effect this summer. The Home Office has not disclosed the specific targets France must meet to retain the full £100 million in conditional funding. Meanwhile, opposition parties continue to push for alternative measures, including withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to strengthen border controls.
