The UK’s deal to pay France £662m to police small boat migrants on beaches will only force more people to make the perilous Channel crossings, charities have warned.
Riot-trained police will be sent to beaches in France as part of the deal that aims to stop migrants from coming to the UK by boat. The Home Office has also promised a 40 per cent increase in the number of enforcement officers on the ground in northern France, bringing the total to nearly 1,100.
The extra money will be paid to France over three years, with a £160m tranche conditional on enough journeys being stopped.
But charities that work with migrants who make the journey from France have warned ministers that the additional funds will not reduce the number of crossings – and could even increase them.
Jo Cobley, chief executive at Safe Passage International, said: “This is a brutal deal for refugees. More violent tactics will only force people who have fled war and persecution, into taking even more dangerous and fatal journeys across the Channel.
“The children we work with in France, hoping to reunite with family in the UK, have no alternative. With no safe routes and the government’s suspension of refugee family reunion, they have no way to reach protection and family in the UK.”
Steve Smith, CEO of refugee charity Care4Calais, said: “The government continues to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results – whilst ignoring the only solution that will stop crossings.
“All the evidence shows that these UK-France agreements not only cost the public purse huge sums, they also lead to more loss of life in the Channel. They do nothing to deter crossings; they only make the crossings that refugees make more dangerous. We have seen this in recent weeks with reports of small boats launching from Belgium.
“The only way to stop crossings is to open safe routes for refugees to claim asylum in the UK.”
The Home Office also announced on Thursday that a new detention centre in Dunkirk would be operational by the end of 2026. The centre was originally promised to Rishi Sunak under the terms of the Conservatives’ deal with France.
The Independent previously revealed how migrants attempting to make their way to Britain are held at the UK-run detention sites in France, with the four sites already in Calais and Dunkirk.
People who are stopped can be held at the sites for no more than 24 hours, after which they must be allowed to continue their journey to the UK or be handed over to French police.
Meghan Benton, director at the Migration Policy Institute based in Paris, described Labour’s deal as “more of the same”, saying it was “a bigger, tougher version of the existing arrangements, more money, more offices, more fancy kit. It’s very tech-forward.”
The Labour deal renews a previous agreement made under Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak, which saw France receive almost £500m to tackle small boat crossings. Despite the surge in funding and policing, crossings in the Channel have risen, with some 41,472 people arriving in the UK by small boat in 2025.
Ms Benton referred to the UK’s “one in, one out deal” with France, which saw some asylum seekers exchanged for others, saying: “That has really underdelivered on numbers, but it has the seeds of a sensible approach that could be more part of a comprehensive solution. What we’ve got here is really something that is enforcement only.”
The Independent reported last month that the flagship one in, one out scheme was returning just 12 migrants a week to France despite initial promises of 50 people a week.
The scheme has also faced numerous legal challenges, with 40 per cent of migrants detained for deportation making trafficking claims.
Immigration minister Alex Norris told BBC’s Today programme on Thursday: “If we don’t see the disruptions that we collectively want to see, we all pay that penalty, they certainly do in northern France as well.”
Analysis from the University of Bristol and Swiss research agency Border Forensics published last month found that the number of migrants who died while attempting to cross the Channel soared after Mr Sunak’s deal with France was signed.
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