France, UK To Sign Three-Year Deal To Stop Migrant Channel Crossings
LONDON, April 23 (Bernama-PA Media/dpa) -- Riot police will be deployed to French beaches to stop migrants from crossing the Channel under a new multimillion-pound deal with the United Kingdom (UK), reported PA Media/dpa.
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to sign a three-year £662 million (US$893 million) agreement with France on Thursday that could see a 50-strong squad of police officers, trained in "riot and crowd control tactics," deployed to tackle violence and "hostile crowds" at the water's edge, among a series of measures aimed at preventing migrants from boarding boats.
The Home Office said the number of officers deployed to curb attempted journeys from northern France to Britain will rise by about 42 per cent when the agreement comes into force in the summer.
Part of the funding will be conditional on reducing the number of arrivals for the first time since the start of the migrant crisis, the UK Government said.
The news comes after London and Paris previously failed to agree a new beach patrol deal aimed at cutting crossings. Instead, Mahmood signed a £2 million-a-week extension (US$2.7 million) to the existing arrangement while a longer-term deal was being thrashed out.
Under the deal, which will be in place until March 2029, the UK will hand over £501 million (US$677 million) to cover five police units and enforcement activity on French beaches, with an extra £160 million (US$216 million) to be paid only if new tactics to curb Channel crossings succeed.
If efforts fail, the additional funding will stop after a year, the Home Office said.
Drone and camera surveillance, as well as helicopter patrols, will be stepped up, with the number of police, intelligence and military officers deployed rising from 750 to nearly 1,100 as part of the deal due to come into force in the summer, typically the busiest time for Channel crossings.
The French will also double down on new tactics to tackle so-called “taxi boats”, where people smugglers try to avoid detection by sending one person to sail a dinghy along the coast alone to beaches where migrants then scramble aboard in the water.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said work between the UK and France had "already stopped tens of thousands of crossings" and that "this historic agreement means we can go further: ramping up intelligence, surveillance and boots on the ground to protect Britain's borders."
Mahmood added: "This landmark deal will stop illegal migrants from making the perilous journey and put people smugglers behind bars."
Earlier this month, a Sudanese man was charged over the deaths of four migrants who drowned after being swept away by strong currents while attempting to cross the Channel.
So far this year, more than 6,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after making the journey, down 36 per cent on the number recorded at this time last year, Press Association analysis of government figures shows.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: "The Government's deal hands over half a billion pounds of our money with no conditions at all."
"France only prevented a third of embarkations last year and even allowed those illegal immigrants to try again. France shouldn't get a single penny unless they stop the vast majority of the boats."
Imran Hussain, from the Refugee Council, said: "By focusing on policing the Channel, the Government is treating the symptom, not the cause. Policing alone will not prevent desperate people from turning to dangerous small boats in the first place."
Refugee charity Care4Calais said Anglo-French beach deals make crossings more dangerous and lead to more deaths in the Channel.
-- BERNAMA-PA MEDIA/dpa
