UK-France small boats deal is the same failed response’

Eighth agreement since 2015 won’t fix issue, charities warn

- LIZZIE DEARDEN

Britain is "recycling the same failed response" to small boat crossings by asylum seekers, charities have said after the government handed France more than £200m in a series of similar deals that have failed to address the problem.

The joint statement on "enhancing cooperation against illegal migration" is the eighth agreement aiming to combat Channel migration struck between the two countries in seven years.

Ministers have committed to paying France €72.2m (£63m) in 2022-23 as part of the new deal, which repeats many of the same measures deployed since 2015. It brings the total amount of money promised to the French government for efforts against clandestine crossings in the English Channel to £232m.

Despite the funding, which has been used to increase security and patrols at lorry ports and coastal areas where smugglers launch small boats, the number of crossings has continued to rocket to new records. More than 40,000 migrants have arrived in the UK on dinghies so far this year, with 93 per cent claiming asylum and the vast majority of applications considered being granted.

Emmanuel Macron has previously joined calls for the government to create alternatives to Channel crossings after Priti Patel admitted there were no safe and legal routes for the vast majority of asylum seekers journeying through Europe.

Addressing the European parliament in January, the French president said: "We will not be able to resolve this issue if the way of dealing with the subject of migration does not change on the British side ... they have not sufficiently organised legal, stable, secure ways and means to seek asylum in Britain."

There was no mention of the demand in the UK-France joint statement published yesterday, and the government has so far ignored the calls in favour of pursuing an unproven strategy of "deterrence".