Britain and France set for new £50m deal to tackle Channel migrants

The UK and France are set to sign a new £50 million deal to tackle Channel migrants in the wake of a crackdown on people smugglers.

Diplomatic sources said officials were working on a “multi-year” financial package that France believes could break the people-smugglers’ model.

The sources said it would be similar to the £54 million deal last July that paid for more patrols, surveillance, border security and asylum camps away from the northern French coast.

It follows a thawing in tensions between the two countries since September, when Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, blocked payments unless France stopped more migrants before they reached the UK.

National Crime Agency (NCA) chiefs said France had “stepped up” efforts to halt small boats, culminating in this week’s five-nation police raids to smash a gang responsible for up to a quarter of the 40,000 migrants to have reached the UK since January last year.

Thirty-nine people linked to the gang, including three ringleaders, were arrested in raids by more than 900 police officers across Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. About 150 small boats, 50 engines, 1,200 lifejackets, firearms, cars, drugs and £35,000 in cash were seized.

France stops around half of attempted crossings

There is also evidence that the predicted rate of increase in small boat crossings is slowing. Chris Farrimond, the NCA director of threat leadership, said numbers were “not as high” as some Home Office predictions despite a record 13,100 crossing so far this year.

Mr Farrimond said France was now stopping around 50 per cent of attempted crossings and believed that if the figure increased to 75 per cent they could “break the smugglers’ business model” by making it uneconomical.

The number of migrants stopped by France has doubled this year compared with the same period last year. On Wednesday, the French intercepted more than two thirds of those attempting to cross, stopping 600, with just 248 reaching the UK, according to the Ministry of Defence.

A Home Office spokesman said France had stopped more than 11,000 small boat crossings this year, adding: “We will continue to build on this successful partnership.”

A government source said previous Anglo-French tensions over how the £54 million was being used had dissipated, adding: “The UK and France are working on another financial package which is likely to be a multi-year package similar to what is already in place.”

Crossings ‘likely to be dented further’

UK ministers believe the Rwanda policy, under which migrants entering Britain illegally are flown to the central African state, will act as a further deterrent once people start being deported.

It has been stalled after an injunction was backed by European judges, and faces judicial review this month.

Police believe Channel migrant crossings, which have been running at double the rate of last year, will be “dented” further in the “immediate future” as a result of Tuesday’s dismantling of the smuggling gang in the biggest international police operation of its kind.

The gang launched up to 15 small boats simultaneously during its 18 months of operation, during which it made an estimated £13 million – about a quarter of the £50 million gangs generated from the cross-Channel people-smuggling trade last year.