Britain is paying France almost half a billion pounds to stop migrant boats from crossing the English Channel

Britain is set to pay France almost half a billion pounds over the next three years in a high-stakes attempt to stop migrants from crossing the Channel.

The announcement came as Rishi Sunak met President Macron in Paris to broker an agreement that will allow him to end the flood of small boats from the continent.

Mr. Sunak hailed a renewed Entente as they spoke at the Elysée Palace.

The deal provides for a new detention center to be set up in France. But the two sides have not discussed a repatriation deal to send rejected asylum seekers back across the English Channel.

Mr. Sunak said: “We don’t have to deal with this problem, we have to solve it. And today we have gone further than ever to put an end to this disgusting trade in human lives.

“The UK and France will work together to ensure that no one can exploit our systems with impunity.”

The announcement came as Rishi Sunak met President Macron in Paris to broker an agreement that will allow him to end the flood of small boats from the continent.

Mr Sunak arrived at the Elysee this morning amid reports he is to pay France an additional £200million to discourage thousands from crossing the world’s busiest shipping lane.

The summit comes after a period of sour Anglo-French relations. Nations have clashed over post-Brexit fishing rights and other issues.

Mr Sunak’s two predecessors also angered France with taunts about the alliance last year, and part of his mission is to restore the Entente Cordial.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: “In the fight against illegal immigration, we want to move forward in lockstep.

“We recognize the human issues and the extreme sensitivity of those issues.”

The package the UK has agreed with France to crack down on migrants crossing the Channel will see hundreds of additional French law enforcement officers using upgraded technology and intelligence to deter the small boats.

For the first time, the UK will help fund a detention center in France to improve its ability to deal with the scale of trafficking across the Channel.

“This new center will support French efforts to increase detention capacities and allow more migrants who might otherwise travel to the UK via dangerous and illegal routes to be removed from the French coast,” the UK government said.

“Building on our existing partnership, which saw twice the number of illegal crossings stopped in 2022 as in 2021, today’s agreement will also more than double the number of staff deployed in Northern France to combat small boats, of which more than will be on site half of the year. The UK will contribute funds to this.”

Mr Macron said he and Mr Sunak had agreed on “enhanced coordination” and “new initiatives” to deal with the English Channel migrant crisis.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk