UK Home Secretary Patel Closes £54 Million Deal With France to Stop Illegal Migrants
10:01 GMT 21.07.2021 (Updated: 15:15 GMT 28.05.2023)
© AP Photo / Gareth Fuller
Subscribe
A new accord between France and Britain, to be implemented in the coming days, will see the number of police officers guarding French beaches double and additional surveillance technology deployed on the coast.
The two countries have agreed upon a £54 million agreement that was announced by UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, who coordinated the deal with her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin.
The UK is trying to prevent migrants crossing the border in France and making their way to Britain illegally.
The move was criticised by Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy, who argued that "you can't just throw money at the problem". The UK needs international cooperation to tackle illegal immigration across the English Channel, she added.
The agreement stipulates broader patrols of coastline areas across northern France between Boulogne and Dunkirk and further northwest around Dieppe.
"For years people have risked their lives to enter our country illegally. Such as those crossing the Channel in dangerous small boats to claim asylum. If there were simple or straightforward solutions, this issue would have been resolved by now. But illegal entry to the UK and subsequent claims of asylum has become a very complex issue and nature of cases that arise", Patel told the UK Parliament on 19 July.
She said that the Nationality & Borders Bill, with provisions about nationality, asylum and immigration, will address the issues that "have resulted in the broken system of over a long period of time of illegal migration".
The Borders Bill will finally fix our broken asylum system.
— Priti Patel (@pritipatel) July 19, 2021
Supporting those fleeing oppression via safe & legal routes – while making it easier to remove dangerous criminals.
Our priorities are the People’s Priorities.#NewPlanForImmigration🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/YziWOLiwQa
Patel addressed the British Parliament this week for the second reading of the aforementioned bill, bringing up migration figures, including the more than 25,000 refugees that have resettled in the UK since 2015 and the more than 29,000 close relatives that have joined them.
"We are determined to smash the criminal gangs who cause such misery – and we will absolutely break their business model. It is illegal to arrive in UK waters without permission. Those that bring them here and facilitate illegal entry will now face a life sentence. This criminal and exploitative behaviour can now be punished with the severity it rightly deserves", the home secretary added.
The agreement with France to curb illegal immigration into the UK comes after 430 migrants landed on British shores on Monday, a new record for a single day.
