UK to pay France another £660m to curb Channel crossings

Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, said the agreement with France would help put people smugglers behind bars. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

French police have fired teargas canisters and stun grenades and used pepper spray in attempts to stop people boarding boats across the Channel. However, this is the first time the UK will fund a riot squad specifically to tackle irregular migration.

The new deal includes a baseline package of about £500m to boost enforcement action on beaches in northern France. The deal will cover:

Five new police units, including a riot squad of 50 officers who will be trained in the use of crowd control.

An additional 20 maritime officers to target and intercept small boats that pick up asylum seekers in shallow waters. In the past two months, French officials have stopped six “taxi boats”, sentencing smugglers to prison and deportation, the Home Office said.

An expansion of the 18-strong intelligence unit to 30 specialists to ramp up the arrest and prosecution of people smugglers.

Two new helicopters and a camera system to track down and intercept people smugglers and people seeking to cross to the UK.

The government has also put aside £160m “to trial new approaches”, but the Home Office did not respond to requests asking what these might be. In the first year of this arrangement, the UK will spend £50m, a statement said.

If the initial investment does not make an impact, the government will withhold the remaining £110m in years two and three, it says, billing it as the first “payment-by-results” scheme in the Channel.

Labour, which is predicted to lose councils to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the local elections, has come under increasing pressure from political opponents to curb irregular migration.

In a statement Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said: “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.”

Mahmood said: “This landmark deal will stop illegal migrants 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 trying to cross the Channel. More than 6,000 people have arrived in the UK this year after making the journey, down 36% on the equivalent period last year.