Diplomatic sources said officials were working on a “multi-year” economic package that France believes could break the smugglers’ model. The sources said it would be similar to the £54m deal last July which paid for more patrols, surveillance, border security and asylum camps off the northern French coast. It follows a thaw in tensions between the two countries since September, when Priti Patel, the home secretary, blocked payments unless France stopped more migrants before they reached the UK. National Crime Agency (NCA) chiefs said France had “stepped up” efforts to stop small boats, culminating in five-nation police raids this week to smash a gang responsible for up to a quarter of the 40,000 of migrants arriving in the UK since January. last year. Thirty-nine people linked to the gang, including three ringleaders, were arrested in raids by more than 900 police officers in Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Some 150 small boats, 50 engines, 1,200 life jackets, firearms, cars, drugs and £35,000 in cash were seized.
France stops about half of the crossing attempts
There is also evidence that the projected rate of growth in small vessel crossings is slowing. Chris Farrimond, the NCA’s director of threat leadership, said the numbers were not as high as some Home Office forecasts despite a record 13,100 crossings so far this year. Mr Farrimond said France was now stopping around 50 per cent of attempted crossings and believed if the figure rose to 75 per cent they could “break the smugglers’ business model” by making it uneconomical. The number of migrants stopped by France has doubled this year compared to the same period last year. On Wednesday, the French intercepted more than two-thirds of those trying to cross, stopping 600, with just 248 reaching the UK, according to the Ministry of Defence. An Interior Ministry spokesman said France had stopped more than 11,000 small boat crossings this year, adding: “We will continue to build on this successful partnership.” A government source said earlier Anglo-French tensions over how to use the £54m had eased, adding: “The UK and France are working on another economic package which is likely to be a multi-year package similar to the one already in place. position.”
Junctions ‘likely to degrade further’
UK ministers believe Rwanda’s policy, whereby migrants who enter Britain illegally are taken to the central African state, will act as a further deterrent when they start being deported. It has been halted following an injunction upheld by European judges and faces a judicial review this month. Police believe that migrant crossings in the English Channel, which are taking place at double the rate of last year, will be further “harmed” in the “immediate future” as a result of the dismantling of a smuggling gang on Tuesday in the biggest international police operation of its kind. The gang launched up to 15 small boats at a time during its 18-month run, during which it is estimated to have made around £13m – about a quarter of the £50m the gangs made from the cross-channel people-smuggling trade last year .
