Posted on 03/30/2026 6:05:11 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
The UK’s agreement with France to pay for beach patrols is on the verge of collapse amid wrangling over the number of small boat interceptions and the safety of asylum seekers in French waters.
Negotiations over plans to revamp the three-year, £480m deal remain deadlocked, despite the involvement of ministers including Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary. The deal expires at midnight on Tuesday.
It is understood that Downing Street has insisted on an increase in the number and nature of interventions by French officials as they seek to disrupt gang activity. Paris remains concerned that UK demands could put the lives of asylum seekers at greater risk.
The development is the latest twist in the discussions between the two governments over how to halt unauthorised small boat journeys – and who should pick up the majority of expenses.
UK officials insist any lapse in the agreement will not result in a “cliff edge”, and that people-smuggling gangs will still face action on French beaches. But NGOs working with refugees have said that it was “extraordinary” that no deal had yet been done.
In 2023, the then UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, agreed a three-year deal with Emmanuel Macron, the French president, providing France with £475m to increase the number of officers intercepting people on French beaches.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
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A-10 target practice.
This is a Monty Python skit.
Its hard to make a deal when neither side is serious.
Good God, talk about the fox guarding the chicken coop!
A good start would be to send Mahmood back to his own country.
Gunboats still exist. “Turn back or you will be fired upon. There will be no additional warnings.” One example sent to the bottom of the Channel ought to suffice. The others would surely get the message, and the “migrant crisis” would swiftly end. But methinks that the Britain of men is sadly no more.
“Its hard to make a deal when neither side is serious.”
Yep, neither side think Islamic invasion is a problem that needs solving.
you beat me to it: i was gonna say that a few A-10 Thunderbolt IIs would easily solve the problem ...
Wow. A deal between UK and France is like the mad leading the blind.
The frogs want those boats so they can flush their turds in to the UK.
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