LONDON (FN), Britain and France have signed a new three-year agreement worth six hundred sixty-two million pounds to curb small boat crossings in the English Channel, deploying riot-trained police, drones, helicopters and surveillance systems, officials said Wednesday.
The deal, signed by UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, will see at least fifty riot-trained officers stationed on French beaches and nearly one thousand one hundred law enforcement, intelligence and military personnel deployed in northern France, a forty-two percent increase from previous levels. The agreement also includes new maritime assets, such as an interceptor vessel and twenty officers to target so-called “taxi boats” used by smugglers.
About one hundred sixty million pounds of the funding is conditional, allowing Britain to withdraw the money after one year if France fails to stop enough crossings.
The pact replaces a four hundred seventy-six million pound deal signed in 2023, which expires next month. Channel crossings have continued to rise, with more than forty-one thousand people arriving in Britain by small boat in 2025, up from thirty-six thousand eight hundred sixteen in 2024. More than six thousand have already crossed in 2026.
Critics, including opposition parties and refugee charities, argue the agreement risks pushing migrants into more dangerous routes and fails to address the root causes of migration. The government insists the deal is a landmark step to dismantle smuggling networks and reduce illegal arrivals.
