First small boat arrivals in Dover since UK’s £662m deal with France
The plan is to remove hundreds of migrants from beaches each year – stopping them from boarding boats and making the dangerous journey to the UK in the first place.
The first small boat arrivals to cross the Channel since the UK government signed a major deal with France earlier this week have reached Dover.
The £662m agreement will see French police officers “targeting and detaining” people on the country’s coast, according to the Home Office.
The plan is to remove hundreds of migrants from beaches every year – stopping them from boarding boats and making the dangerous journey to the UK in the first place.
On Saturday afternoon, a group of more than a dozen people thought to be migrants, including women and children, were pictured being escorted off a UK Border Force boat in Dover, Kent.
They were brought into the Border Security Command compound after being collected in the Channel.
The three-year deal was signed by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood in Dunkirk last Thursday – but ministers have not set specific targets to measure the success of the agreement.
Riot police will be sent to beaches to stop migrants entering the Channel as part of a raft of measures as the UK hands over more money to France in a bid to curb perilous crossings.
A new 50-strong squad of police officers trained in “riot and crowd control tactics” will be deployed to tackle violence and “hostile crowds” at the water’s edge.
Drone and camera surveillance, as well as helicopter patrols, will also be increased.
The Home Office said the number of officers sent to curb attempted journeys from northern France will rise by about 42% when the agreement comes into force in the summer – which is typically the busiest time for crossings.
Some 200 officers are also due to be drafted into a new detention centre in Dunkirk to deport migrants, which is expected to open by the end of the year.
They will focus on removing people from Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria, Vietnam and Yemen.
Those countries had the highest number of migrants who made the journey last year.
Part of the funding will be conditional on reducing the number of arrivals for the first time since the start of the migrant crisis.
It means Britain will pay £501m to cover five police units and enforcement activity on French beaches – with an extra £160m only handed over if new tactics to curb Channel crossings succeed.
And if efforts fail, the additional funding will stop after a year, the Home Office said.
It is thought that more than 6,000 migrants have arrived in the UK so far this year after making the journey, down 36% on the number this time in 2025.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said France “shouldn’t get a single penny unless they stop the vast majority of the boats”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This government is bearing down on small boat crossings.
“The home secretary has signed a landmark new deal with France to boost enforcement action on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars. This builds on joint work that has stopped over 42,000 illegal migrants attempting to cross the channel since the election.
“We have removed or deported almost 60,000 people who were here illegally and are going further to remove the incentives that draw illegal migrants to this country.”
