British taxpayers are to hand the French up to £660million for small boat patrols, pushing the total paid since the start of the Channel crisis past £1.3billion.
Labour has agreed to give Emmanuel Macron’s government a ‘core package’ of £500million – spread over the next three years – to continue funding anti-migrant operations by French police.
A further £160million will also be handed over to fund new tactics by the French including stopping dinghies once they are already in the water.
However, the additional sum – about £53million a year – will only continue after the first year if the French deliver results.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is due to sign the agreement in Paris on Thursday.
A previous three-year, £500million deal was agreed in 2023 by then Tory PM Rishi Sunak and since then more than 84,000 migrants have reached Britain across the Channel.
It has also been confirmed for the first time that French authorities’ new initiative to stop boats at sea will only apply to dinghies with fewer than 20 migrants aboard.
Migrants board a dinghy off Dunkirk on April 13. Labour has announced a new three year deal to pay France up to £660million to operate anti-migrant patrols on its beaches
French police look on as migrants board a dinghy from Dunkirk beach on April 13
The limit has been imposed amid French concerns that intercepting more crowded vessels could lead to loss of life.
French officers stopped a smugglers’ ‘taxi boat’ for the first time in January and the tactics have only been used a couple of times since.
Under Labour’s new agreement the £53million-a-year extra payments will partly depend on how many boats are intercepted at sea.
British cash will pay for a new specialist vessel for the French to use in interceptions, and 20 extra trained maritime officers to carry out the work.
It will also be used to pay for two new helicopters for the French to use in surveillance operations along their coastline.
Further British funds will cover the cost of a new 50-strong police riot squad specially trained in dispersing large groups of people.
In all, the deal will fund a 40 per cent increase in the number of French police, intelligence operatives and military reservists involved in counter-migrant patrols, from about 750 to 1,100.
A specialist intelligence unit targeting traffickers will also be expanded to 30 staff, and there will be extra surveillance drones and a new system of security cameras.
Exact criteria for assessing French performance have not been disclosed.
Describing it as an ‘historic’ agreement, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: ‘We must restore order and control to our borders.
‘That means bearing down on these dangerous crossings and bringing people smugglers to justice.
‘Our work with the French has already stopped tens of thousands of crossings, and this government has deported or returned nearly 60,000 people with no right to be here.
‘This historic agreement means we can go further: ramping up intelligence, surveillance and boots on the ground to protect Britain’s borders.’
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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘Our work with the French has stopped tens of thousands of illegal migrants boarding boats headed to Britain.
‘But we must do more. This landmark deal will stop illegal migrants making the perilous journey and put people smugglers behind bars.’
The Home Office said that since the 2024 election, joint work with the French has stopped ‘over 42,000 illegal migrants attempting to cross the Channel’.
However, anyone prevented from boarding a dinghy is simply freed and is able to try again another day.
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 they even let those illegal immigrants go to try again.
‘France shouldn’t get a single penny unless they stop the vast majority of the boats.’
If all the £660million set out in the new agreement is ultimately handed over the British taxpayer will have given France £1.335billion to deal with small boats since 2018, when the small boat crisis began.
The new measures will be enhanced over the summer, the peak period for crossings.
