{"id":862909,"date":"2026-03-31T16:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/862909\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T16:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:18:16","slug":"uk-and-france-fail-to-agree-new-deal-to-stop-small-boats-crossing-channel-in-row-over-policing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/862909\/","title":{"rendered":"UK and France fail to agree new deal to stop small boats crossing Channel in row over policing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK has failed to agree a new immigration deal with France<\/a> after negotiations stalled amid a row over policing on Calais beaches.<\/p>\n

Ministers were instead forced to agree a two-month extension to the existing multimillion-pound agreement, which was announced by the Home Office with just hours to go before it expired at midnight on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Shabana Mahmood said the extension was necessary because the home secretary is \u201cdriving a hard bargain with the French to deliver the best deal for the British people to prevent illegal migrants getting to Britain and risking their lives\u201d, adding that ministers want \u201cmore bang for our buck\u201d from the deal.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The number of people crossing the channel has increased (PA Wire)<\/p>\n

It is understood that the Home Office is pushing for a significant increase in law enforcement officers on beaches and a ramping up of measures to prevent migrants from making the dangerous crossings, including intercepting boats in the water.<\/p>\n

It has previously been reported that the home secretary was pushing for performance-related clauses that would link a package of \u00a3650m in funding to the proportion of boats intercepted by the French.<\/p>\n

Ms Mahmood\u2019s spokesperson also took aim at Nigel Farage\u2019s Reform UK, which has previously said it would not give France \u201canother penny\u201d and described the deal as a \u201cscam\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cReform’s comments are completely reckless, and would see a surge of migrants crossing the Channel and risking their lives. This is completely reckless.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the work that we’ve done with the French since being in government: 42,000 migrants being stopped from making that perilous journey. Farage would risk their lives and open them with welcome arms into Britain\u201d, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The existing arrangement, worth nearly \u00a3 500 million, was announced in 2023 and expires at the end of March.<\/p>\n

When it was announced, the previous Tory government said the \u00a3478 million package would fund a new detention centre in France and hundreds of extra law enforcement officers on French shores.<\/p>\n

But crossings in the Channel have spiralled since, with some 41,472 people arriving in the UK by small boat in 2025, and Ms Mahmood is now under pressure to bring numbers down.<\/p>\n

Last week, amid growing speculation about the future of the deal, Downing Street insisted that Britain and France are \u201cunited\u201d in their aim to stop small boat crossings and said the UK is looking to ensure \u201clong-term value for money\u201d as part of any new agreement with Paris.<\/p>\n

But the prime minister\u2019s spokesperson refused to be drawn on how much money the government was prepared to hand France for a fresh deal.<\/p>\n

Asked whether Sir Keir Starmer wants to see the existing deal improved, his spokesperson said: \u201cWe always want to improve where we can improve our abilities to prevent small boat crossings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t get ahead of negotiations but we are looking at how we can build flexibility and innovation into any deal with the French to ensure that there is long-term value for money and a real impact on small boat crossings that builds on the 40,000 crossing attempts that have been prevented since this government came into office.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether the agreement had provided value for money, he said the preventions were \u201ca testament to the work our teams have been undertaking with French teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are united in wanting to stop small boat crossings, which put lives at risk,\u201d the official added.<\/p>\n

So far this year, some 4,169 people have arrived in the UK on small boats, according to official figures.<\/p>\n

The deal\u2019s extension came as charities and campaign groups urged the government to do more to stop people from losing their lives in the Channel, calling for them to open up safe and legal routes for refugees.<\/p>\n

Imran Hussain, director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said: \u201cPolicing the Channel alone is not enough to stop small boat crossings. If the government are truly going to smash the gangs, they must address the root issue of why people take dangerous journeys in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know from our frontline services that there are many reasons why people fleeing persecution and brutal conflict in countries like Sudan and Afghanistan want to come here – many already speak some English, have family here, or have cultural connections to Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the government has shut down the few safe and legal pathways available, including family reunion, a route that overwhelmingly helped women and children. All this does is push more desperate people into the hands of smugglers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Tim Naor Hilton, the chief executive of Refugee Action, said it was \u201cscandalous that UK governments have spent hundreds of millions of pounds of public money per year paying the French state to brutalise people seeking safety\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cInstead of renewing its cruel and costly deal with France, which has made no impact on Channel crossings, the government should invest that money in establishing new safe routes for people to seek asylum without having to further risk their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK has failed to agree a new immigration deal with France after negotiations stalled amid a row…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[68039,15442,166710,2000,299,36,384,60422,112511,16],"class_list":["post-862909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-channel","tag-channel-crossings","tag-crossing-the-channel","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-nigel-farage","tag-shabana-mahmood","tag-spokesperson","tag-uk"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116324697448526392","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}