POLL: Will paying France to deport migrants solve Channel crisis?

Britain will pay France to deport migrants trying to cross the Channel in small boats under a new deal agreed by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. A new detention centre in Dunkirk will be used to remove hundreds of asylum seekers every year, but the UK could end up paying Emmanuel Macron’s government as part of Labour’s £660million deal.

The Home Office says migrants will be deported back to their home countries or other EU nations they have passed through, but Reform’s Zia Yusuf told the Daily Express: “Labour is handing over hundreds of millions of British taxpayers’ money to the French to deport migrants from France. Britain will now be paying for another country to handle its illegal arrivals.

“This is not just a grotesque misuse of public money, the detention centre Britain is funding will take nine months to build and hold just two boats’ worth of migrants.

“In that time, thousands more will invade our shores, be housed at taxpayers’ expense and given benefits such as tennis lessons and trips to the zoo.

“Reform UK will detain and deport illegal migrants and bring this farce to an end.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Buried in the small print of Labour’s France deal is a provision that will see British taxpayers fund the removal of immigrants who have absolutely nothing to do with us, people who are France’s legal responsibility, France’s problem, and France’s bill to pay.

“Labour have handed over two-thirds of a billion pounds of public money, negotiated so badly that they could not even ensure it would be spent on stopping boats to Britain rather than clearing France’s own backlog.

“This is an incompetent Government that has been taken to the cleaners by a foreign government because they have lost control of our borders.”

Ms Mahmood said: “This Government is bearing down on illegal small boat crossings.

“Under this new agreement, we will remove those with no right to be here before they attempt to cross the Channel – starting this year.

“We will restore order and control to our borders.”

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Channel crossing numbers

Labour’s £660million deal follows another agreement signed by former Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak, who agreed a three-year £475million deal with Mr Macron in 2023.

This in turn came after a series of pledges, totalling about £200million, between 2018 and 2022. The number of boats being intercepted has fallen over the past five years to a record low.

Out of 6,233 attempted crossings in the first 12 weeks of this year, some 2,064 (33.1%) were stopped. That was down from 35.1% last year and 36.7% in 2024.

In total, 22,476 migrants were stopped from crossing to the UK last year. In 2021, 23,923 departures were prevented. This increased to 33,000 in 2022, before dropping again to 26,000 in 2023.

The House of Commons Library said partial figures for 2024 – from May to December – revealed 21,317 were stopped from reaching the UK. Some 41,472 migrants crossed the Channel last year, up from 36,566 in 2024.

More than 6,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year.