4 days ago
France wants more UK money to intercept small boats
France will demand more money from Britain to tackle small-boat crossings as police are due to start intercepting migrants in shallow water from next month.
French authorities have until now resisted entering the Channel to stop dinghies leaving beaches for Britain, despite agreeing in February to change the law which prevented them from doing so.
The French government is now prepared to change the rules but is expected to tell Britain it needs more money to deploy extra officers and drones to be able to continue policing the shores.
French and British officials are currently at the start of negotiating a new deal on tackling Channel crossings. They believe it is key that part of the work is financed by Britain, and are expected to ask for more money in order to deploy more officers and equipment such as drones.
In particular, officials are expected to push for extra funding for the Compagnie de Marche, a special policing unit with elite public order powers. The unit was inspired by policing during the Paris Olympics and is designed to tackle the increase in violence on French beaches.
It is understood the French hope a deal can be signed in the coming months. A government source said the French may be 'pitch-rolling for more money' but that talks were in the early stages.
The last agreement, signed in 2023 by Rishi Sunak, was due to expire next year. However, Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, agreed to extend it to 2027 on the condition France builds a long-promised detention centre.
Britain has paid France £800 million since 2015 to curb small-boat crossings but the numbers of people arriving on Britain's shores has continued to rise.
So far this year almost 15,000 people have arrived in the UK in small boats — up 42 per cent on this time last year and a 95 per cent rise from the same point in 2023.
The 2023 agreement saw Britain pay France £480 million to stop the crossings, but not all of that has been spent.
It is expected France will push for a similar amount if not more under any new deal. President Macron is drafting the new strategy to present to the UK during his forthcoming state visit to Britain in July.
Some 1,195 migrants crossed the Channel in 19 small boats on Saturday
TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER JACK HILL
British officials had become increasingly frustrated at the pace of change and Cooper had pushed the French interior minister to act 'swiftly'.
The home secretary said this week it was 'disgraceful' that 1,195 people crossed the Channel in 19 small boats on Saturday. French authorities rescued 184 people: however, current guidelines prevent officers from intervening offshore unless it is to rescue passengers in distress.
It means officers can stop boats leaving the beach by puncturing them but may do nothing once they are in the water unless migrants call for help, which has led to footage of gendarmes looking on from the beach as people attempting to reach the UK ran into the water and climbed onboard small boats.
John Healey, the defence secretary, previously said it was a 'really big problem' that the French authorities were unable to intervene to intercept the boats.
However, it is hoped that the rule change will allow them to intercept so-called taxi boats, which are launched inland and then pick up migrants who have waded waist-deep into the water.
French officials insist they are stopping migrants crossing the Channel and that French police are subject to dangerous confrontations with migrants who are determined to make the crossing. In one incident, police were covered in petrol and migrants threatened to set them alight.
They believe there are pull factors which make Britain attractive for migrants, and pointed to global conflicts and climate change as reasons for increasing numbers.
