Rishi Sunak’s government has reached a deal with France to increase cooperation over asylum seekers and migrants using small boats to cross the Channel, with UK officers joining a beefed-up programme of French beach patrols.
The arrangement, signed on Monday morning, promises a 40% increase in the number of patrols to try to detect small boats about to make the voyage from France, with UK personnel taking part for the first time.
It also includes extra investment in port infrastructure in France, the use of technology to detect crossings, such as drones, and greater cross-Europe cooperation.
Sunak, who has come under intense pressure from Conservative MPs to reduce the number of unofficial crossings into the UK, said he believed voters’ biggest policy priority was for him to “grip” the issue.
Speaking to reporters en route to the G20 meeting in Bali on the eve the deal was announced, Sunak said: “When it comes to migration more generally I do think that the absolute priority that the British people have right now, as do I, is to grip illegal migration.
“I made a commitment that I would grip it in the summer. And I can tell you all that I’ve spent more time working on that than anything else, other than obviously the autumn statement, over the past couple of weeks.
“Look, I’ve been honest that there’s not a single thing to do to fix it and we can’t fix it overnight. But there’s a range of things I’m working on, including the French deal, where I’m confident we can bring the numbers down over time and that’s what I’m going to deliver.”
The accord, to be signed by Suella Braverman, the UK home secretary, and her French counterpart, Gérald Darmanin, also promises better information-sharing between the countries and efforts to provide information in France to would-be Channel crossers about other options.
Another element will be a taskforce focusing on the recent increase in the number of Albanian nationals making the journey into Britain, many of whom are fleeing poor economic prospects and corruption in their country. More details are expected once the deal is signed.
It remains to be seen what effect the measures will have. The UK already cooperates with France over efforts to reduce the number of crossings. Under a deal reached last year, the UK will give a further £55m to France to help fund measures.
James Cleverly, the UK foreign secretary, told Sky News on Monday morning that while he did not know of a specific target by which numbers could be reduced under the deal, such international cooperation was vital.
“Ultimately, what we want to see is these crossings reduced completely, but we have to be realistic,” he said. “The people traffickers are working incredibly hard to try and dissuade law enforcement. We need to work just as hard to counter their illegal activity.
“These agreements do have an effect. They are not the complete solution. We have to work with the countries these people travel through, and also of course we need to make sure that our legal processes are fast, effective and fair, and it is understood that we will repatriate people, we will send people back, if they don’t have a legitimate reason.”
Sunak hailed the increase in cooperation with France, crediting his meeting with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, at the Cop27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt last week.
“Only by working with other countries can you make progress on the things that impact people at home,” he told reporters on the official plane to Bali, where he is to face his first major diplomatic test, much of it focused on dealing with Russia, which is a G20 member.
“The best example of that is illegal migration and I raised it in my first meeting I had with President Macron, we spent time speaking about that when we were together in Sharm at Cop.
Boris Johnson’s approach to trying to reduce the number of crossings was a controversial policy pledging to deport asylum seekers and others who arrived that way to Rwanda, with no prospect of return to the UK.
No one has yet been sent, however, after legal challenges, and the policy, which has remained in place under Liz Truss and now Sunak, has had no apparent impact on arrivals.
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Guardian
