Britain pays France £650 million – but they’re not stopping migrant crossings

When will we ever learn? Official figures now show that France is stopping fewer small-boat migrants than ever.

The number intercepted as they tried to cross the Channel in the first three months of the year was the lowest on record. Only a third of the migrants who tried to cross illegally between January and March were stopped. And now we are about to pay the French another £650 million to try and stop the problem.

Negotiations on a new deal have gone to the wire.

In 2023, Rishi Sunak agreed a three-year £475 million deal with French President Emmanuel Macron to increase the number of officers intercepting migrants on French beaches.

That deal expires today.

Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, is pushing a replacement that would link the next round of funding to the French hitting higher interception targets and providing daily reports on operations.

The talks had been handled by officials from Britain’s border security command led by Martin Hewitt, who quit the post earlier this month, just 18 months into his three-year term.

But the negotiations have failed, according to a French interior ministry source.

Ministers are now said to be thrashing out the details.

It is understood that British government ministers and officials are frustrated at the fall in the proportion of migrants intercepted by the French.

Frustratingly, French officers continue to be filmed standing on the beaches apparently powerless to stop the smugglers’ taxi boats picking up migrants.

There have been just three interceptions at sea since Mr Macron announced last July that France would modify its maritime policy to allow officers to board small boats.

Last week, a French minister expressed concern over British demands.

Xavier Ducept, the French junior minister for the sea, told a French parliamentary commission of inquiry that the British want to show their public that the funds … are being used effectively”.

He said the British should not impose unrealistic targets that could put migrants’ safety at risk. “What we want is for … the British to contribute to funding interception systems, which are very expensive”.

The British have reportedly rejected several French requests for funding.

These included covering the salaries of staff at a future detention centre in Dunkirk, paying to have reservists patrol the beaches, and funding a riot police barracks.

Out of 6,233 attempted crossings in the first 12 weeks of this year, some 2,064 (33.1%) were stopped.

That’s down from 35.1% last year and 36.7% in 2024.

It was the lowest rate of interceptions since the small boats began arriving in 2018, down from a peak of 46.9% in 2023.

Over the four weeks ending March 22 this year, just 23.2% of migrants attempting to cross the Channel were prevented by French police.

More than 4,400 migrants have crossed the Channel this year by the end of last week.