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Channel migrants deadlock as France rejects UK payment-by-results
France rejects UK demands to tie funding to interception targets as 41,472 people reached Britain by small boat in 2025, officials said.
- On Monday, British and French officials continued talks to secure a new £650 million migration funding agreement before the current £475 million deal expires at midnight on Tuesday, but negotiations have stalled over competing demands.
- Rising Channel crossings—more than 41,000 reached England last year versus about 29,000 in 2023—have intensified the funding dispute as Britain seeks to maintain its border security investment in France.
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has demanded money be released only after France meets specific interception targets, yet French authorities currently intercept just 33 per cent of crossings, with Home Office figures showing 2,064 of 6,233 crossings intercepted.
- Xavier Ducept, France's general secretary for the sea, rejected performance-based funding as 'extremely dangerous for migrants' on Friday, while a French interior ministry source told Le Monde that negotiations have collapsed to ministerial level.
- The three-year 'Sandhurst Treaty' package hinges on completion of a Dunkirk detention centre, with Britain refusing to fund staff salaries yet demanding the facility operational this year as border forces warn failed negotiations could allow more migrants to evade capture.
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14 Articles
14 Articles
London and Paris will extend their agreement on crossing controls of migrants through the Channel to the United Kingdom, the British Home Office announced this Tuesday.
Home Secretary signs last-minute France migrant deal as negotiations continue
The existing deal was due to end at midnight on Wednesday morning. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has signed a two-month extension to the current beach patrol deal with France hours before the illegal migration agreement was due to expire. The existing near £500 million arrangement was due to end at midnight on Wednesday morning and the extension has been signed while the UK and France continue to thrash out a deal. Operational contracts will be…
Coverage Details
Total News Sources14
Leaning Left6Leaning Right3Center2Last UpdatedBias Distribution55% Left
Bias Distribution
- 55% of the sources lean Left
55% Left
L 55%
C 18%
R 27%
Factuality
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