France stop under HALF of English Channel crossings despite mega payment from UK
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness, Kent, onboard an RNLI Dungeness Lifeboat
PA
French authorities are intercepting fewer than 50 per cent of Channel crossing attempts in the last year, official figures have revealed.
The failure to intercept more vessels comes after the United Kingdom coughed up £480million to France to help solve the crisis.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak agreed to the three-year deal with Paris in a bid to curb the number of illegal migrants crossing the Channel.
However, figures obtained by The Telegraph showed just 45.2 per cent of migrants have been stopped since January.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President of France, Emmanuel Macron, ahead of a bilateral meeting during the Cop27 summit at Sharm el-Sheikh
PA
The rate stood at 45.8 per cent during the year before.
The UK’s £480million deal is funding more patrolling officers on French beaches, a joint command centre and a detention centre.
Home Affairs Select Committee chair Tim Loughton voiced his concern about the “disappointing” figures given the “huge investment”.
He said: “Clearly we are paying more money for the French police to continue failing to stop even more migrants on the beaches before they get into the water.
French police on the beaches
PA“We need an immediate value for money assessment of exactly what the British taxpayer is getting for their money.”
The disappointing interception rate comes shortly after the European Union rejected a deal which would have allowed migrants to return to France.
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke urged London and Paris to “work together” to end the Channel crossing crisis.
Elphicke has urged France to back-peddle on its previous reservations and hold joint patrols.
The UK was previously able to use the EU’s Dublin regulation to return asylum seekers to the member state in which they first arrived.
Tim Loughton MP outside Portcullis House in London
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However, the mechanism ensured more migrants entered the UK than left between 2015 and 2017.
France’s interception rate could be considered yet another blow to Sunak’s pledge to stop Channel crossing migrants.
All 39 migrants aboard Bibby Stockholm were evacuated last week amid fears of Legionnaires disease.
The Government’s Rwanda scheme remains in legal limbo after it was declared unlawful on human rights grounds by the Court of Appeal in June.
The total number of illegal migrants who crossed the English Channel has exceeded 17,000 this year.