Five small boats each carrying some 50 foreign nationals were witnessed arriving in Britain from France today, as the Channel migrant deal with France hit a troubling standstill.
Around 300 asylum seekers have made the journey this morning as weather conditions remain favorable for what would otherwise be a harsh and perilous crossing.
The influx comes as the UK's stalling migrant deal with France has been extended by two months at a whopping cost of £16.2million.
Contracts were extended by a further two months to enable Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to thrash out the terms of a new agreement, as the current terms expired at midnight last night.
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In the meantime, French law enforcement, intelligence and military reservist officers will remain operational on the Calais coast as part of the push to track down people smugglers and thwart small boat crossings.
Despite this, Sir Keir Starmer's record on the small boats crisis is officially worse than any of his predecessors, with almost 70,000 people reaching British shores in the Labour leader's first 20 months in power.
Britain's small boats agreement with France was first signed under the previous Conservative administration in 2023, with the £476million package funding a new detention centre and hundreds of extra law enforcement officers.
Hundreds of migrants swarm across Channel after UK-France talks to extend deal stall
|GB NEWS
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: "Our work with France has stopped 42,000 attempts by illegal migrants to make the journey across the Channel.
“While we finalise a new and improved UK-France deal, French law enforcement operations to stop illegal migrants in France will continue.
“I will do whatever it takes to restore order and control at our borders".
Despite receiving millions of pounds in taxpayers' cash, French police have been accused of failing to tackle the issue.
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Law enforcement officers in Calais have been filmed standing on the beaches and watching on as migrants clamber aboard dinghies in the Channel.
Meanwhile, just 2,064 out of 6,233 attempted crossings in the first 12 weeks of 2026 were stopped.
However, French police have also been given more powers to stop migrant boats at sea, including puncturing dinghies found in the dunes.
Ms Mahmood is expected to offer France £650million for a three-year deal, with the Home Secretary demanding stricter conditions to only release funds once France reaches a certain interception rate.
Around 300 migrants have made the journey today as weather conditions remain favourable
|GB NEWS
The deal with France forms a part of larger plans to curve the influx of foreigners to British shores, with new measures to reduce those currently housed in the UK.
Ms Mahmood previously announced a pilot scheme, offering failed asylum seeker families up to £40,000 incentives to return to their home nation in a bid to reduce the taxpayer burden.
An average asylum seeker family housed in a hotel or other accommodation site costs the British taxpayer approximately £158,000 per annum.
As the weather improves this spring, it is expected more foreign nationals will make the turbulent crossing in the coming weeks and months.
January saw the fewest migrant crossings for the month since 2021, which experts attributed to harsh weather conditions as opposed to anti-migration policy achieving results.
In fact, the first quarter of 2026 has witnessed the poorest border enforcement since 2018, as just 2,064 out of 6,233 attempted crossings in the first 12 weeks of 2026 were stopped.
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