The UK and France are engaged in urgent talks to renew a deal funding beach patrols aimed at intercepting small boats crossing the English Channel.
The 2023 agreement, signed under then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, saw the UK pay £476m to France for extra patrols targeting smuggling gangs. That deal is set to expire at midnight.
The UK government is pushing for a new arrangement that ensures France increases interceptions, with performance-linked clauses reportedly under discussion. However, French authorities have expressed concern that some UK demands could heighten risks to asylum seekers, according to reports.
The BBC has said that if no agreement is reached by the deadline, discussions will continue and French patrol operations will carry on in the meantime.
The previous Conservative government intended the £476m package to fund a new detention centre in France and hundreds of additional law enforcement officers on France’s northern coast. France also committed to an unspecified “substantial and continuing” contribution.
Small boat crossings have risen sharply over recent years, with 41,472 people arriving in the UK by boat in 2025. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood faces mounting pressure to reduce these numbers. She is reportedly seeking a deal that ties funding to the proportion of boats successfully intercepted by French authorities, as first reported by the Times.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the discussions with France on Monday as “good discussions” aimed at securing an effective renewal.
In August 2025, the Labour government signed a separate “one-in-one-out” arrangement, allowing the UK to return some small boat arrivals to France while admitting an equivalent number of migrants from France who had not attempted to cross illegally. By February 2026, 305 people had been returned to France and 367 admitted to the UK under this scheme.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “France is our most important migration partner and together our joint work is bearing down on small boat crossings. We have prevented over 40,000 crossing attempts since this government took office. Our landmark deal ensures illegal migrants arriving by small boat are being sent back to France.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has called for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to stop small boat crossings. Speaking at Heathrow Airport, he argued that a renewed deal “wouldn’t make any difference” and suggested that a Reform UK government would direct the Royal Navy to tow small boats back to northern France.