France risks losing £160m in UK funding if it fails to do enough to halt Channel crossings under a “payment-by-results” deal agreed earlier this year.
It comes after the busiest day for small boat arrivals in 2026 was recorded on Wednesday and four more people died attempting the crossing.
Under the agreement, signed by the Home Secretary in April, £500m was committed to boost enforcement on French beaches, with a further £160m contingent on France succeeding in cutting migrant numbers. It was the first time UK funding to France on Channel crossings has been tied to results in this way, and if the new tactics fail to stop enough boats the £160m top-up will stop after one year.
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UPF scaremongering is overblown – this study shows why
The winners and losers of income tax devolution
science
UPF scaremongering is overblown – this study shows why
Caption: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – DECEMBER 11: In this photo illustration, food products manufactured by Mondelez and Coca-Cola are shown on December 11, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Both companies are among those named in a lawsuit that accuses major food companies of marketing ultra-processed and addictive foods to children. (Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Photographer: Scott Olson
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Source: Getty Images North America
Copyright: 2024 Getty Images
The UPF theory is that the chief determinant of a healthy diet is whether you mainly make meals from scratch or whether you buy pre-prepared food like ready meals.
But now, some preliminary research suggests that this might not be the best way to look at your diet.
How did the anti-UPF movement start?
- Research on the subject had been ongoing for several years, but it was the book Ultra-Processed People: Why Do We All Eat Stuff That Isn’t Food… and Why Can’t We Stop? by TV doctor Professor Chris van Tulleken that started it.
- The cause has since been embraced by many other food gurus.
- Campaigners say processed food is bad for our health because it contains harmful ingredients such as high-fructose corn syrup.
The study
- There are lots of studies that find people who eat more UPF are more likely to get fat and have worse health.
- But the results could be obscured by the fact that most UPF is also fatty and sugary.
- The latest research used existing data from three studies that had analysed the diets and tracked the health of over 200,000 US adults from the 1980s through to the 2020s.
- By the end, about half the people had died or developed heart disease or type 2 diabetes. And these people generally had more unhealthy diets.
- However, there was no correlation with poor health and how much UPF someone ate.
Steak is not UPF but mainstream diet advice is to limit red meat (Photo: bettphotos/Getty/500px)
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Researchers have claimed that ultra-processed foods cause dementia, but brain experts recommend a different approach to diet.
The winners and losers of Burnham’s income tax devolution
Plans to let mayors keep a portion of income tax could lead to some areas of the UK receiving vastly larger sums than others, analysis for The i Paper shows.
Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 29: Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks to residents, care workers, volunteers and social care stakeholders during a care home visit on July 29, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Kirsty Wigglesworth – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Photographer: WPA Pool
Provider: Getty Images
Source: Getty Images Europe
Copyright: Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
How the plan could work
It is not yet known how Andy Burnham’s plan could work, but a proposed model by Re:State, a centre-right think-tank close to Burnham, proposes that mayoral authorities collect a flat rate of up to 2.5 per cent of the 20p basic rate of income tax.
Caption: Person working at a home desk checking a receipt while entering amounts on financial paperwork with a calculator. Household finance organization, annual filing documents, tax preparation materials and general personal budgeting content.
Photographer: portishead1
Provider: Getty Images
Source: E+
Analysis
3 min read
Caption: Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham speaks with locals during a visit to the Hare Inn in Harlow, east of London with the Chancellor John Healy (not pictured) on July 23, 2026. The UK government Thursday announced a tax cut for struggling pubs, clubs and live music venues as new Prime Minister Andy Burnham aims to ease the cost of living crisis. (Photo by Richard Pohle / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)
Photographer: RICHARD POHLE
Provider: POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Source: AFP
Policy could be damaging for the PM
Burnham has been warned he must come up with a fair formula for any income tax devolution or risk further deepening existing regional inequalities.
The Prime Minister also risks opening up a political fight among regions if some are permitted the new tax and spending powers but not others, such as parts of the south-west.
The top five winners of Burnham’s income tax devolution
- 1London – £2.3bn
- 2 Manchester – £674m
- 3 West Midlands – £666m
- 4 West Yorkshire – £553m
- 5 East Midlands – £541m
Andy Burnham speaks to residents during a care home visit in London. A new ‘Dementia Tsar’ will be in place within weeks to ‘help drive forward much-needed improvements’ (Photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/Getty)
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The four options to fund Burnham’s social care plans – and the risks
The new Prime Minister wants to revolutionise social care, but hasn’t yet set out how he will pay for it
The scheme funded a 40 per cent increase in law enforcement, intelligence and military officers on French beaches, taking the total to nearly 1,100 personnel, alongside a new 50-officer riot police unit, an expanded intelligence and judicial police team, drone surveillance, two helicopters and additional maritime officers targeting “taxi boats”.
The pressure on France to show results was underlined on Wednesday, when 752 people arrived in the UK in nine boats – the highest number of crossings in a single day so far this year, according to the Home Office.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp was filmed on Hardelot beach, south of Boulogne, this week being told by a French police officer that they had been given orders not to stop migrants attempting to leave in small boats.
He told The i Paper: “A French gendarme on the beach admitted to me that he had orders not to intervene to stop the immigrants.
“The £160m top-up should be revoked now and not left to run for another year while the boats keep coming and people keep dying.
“The Belgians successfully and safely intervene to stop crossings in exactly the same circumstances. The French should too – and if they refuse Andy Burnham should stop paying any more money. This will be an early test of his leadership.”
The Prime Minister said the UK had made “significant progress” on cutting the number of crossings – total arrivals for the year are around 42 per cent lower than the figure recorded at the same point last year.
The Home Office said the reduction was not solely due to weather conditions but also reflected co-operation with French authorities to prevent crossings through increased enforcement on beaches and the seizure of boats, supported by the £662m agreement signed in April.
Asked by reporters about Donald Trump’s remark that the UK had a “huge immigration problem”, Burnham said there was much still to do “to get those numbers right down”.
The 752 arrivals recorded on Wednesday exceeded the previous daily high for the year, which was 710 in June. This brings the provisional total for the year to 14,128 arrivals.
Overnight into Thursday, four people died attempting the crossing.
A man thought to be in his thirties or forties died after a boat capsized off Hardelot on France’s northern coast at around 11.30pm local time on Wednesday.
Six others, including a one-year-old child, were injured. French officials said the vessel was a “taxi boat”, used to collect paying passengers already waiting in the water. Security forces intervened and an investigation has been launched.
Eight hours later, three people were found dead aboard a boat that had launched from Dunkirk, around 100km up the coast. The French coastguard said the vessel was spotted near a breakwater at 6am local time and rescuers found three people unconscious aboard. Their deaths were later confirmed by emergency personnel.
A UK Government spokesperson said: “Every death in the Channel is a tragedy and a stark reminder of the dangers posed by criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people for profit.”
According to the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, 162 people died while attempting to cross the English Channel between 2018 and 2025. Since 2020, small-boat crossings have become the most common method by which people are detected entering the UK illegally.