UK PM Rishi Sunak is set to announce that the UK will give France hundreds of millions of pounds to invest in police, security, and intelligence to address the small boats crisis.
The announcement is expected to be made during the first Anglo-French summit in three years, which will be attended by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace in Paris. According to Whitehall sources, at least £75 million will be provided in the first year alone.
Meanwhile, the government has announced that the construction of the long-delayed high-speed rail link between London and Manchester will be pushed back by at least another two years, with a goal to deliver high-speed services to Crewe and the northwest as soon as possible after accounting for the delay.
The Birmingham to Crewe leg of HS2 will now not enter construction, allowing the government to focus on plans to bring the new line into Euston station. Some government officials are skeptical about whether the full line will ever materialize, however.
Sunak views stopping migrant boats at the source as a critical part of the government’s migration strategy. The UK has given France over £250 million since 2015 to address the issue, but migrant numbers have continued to rise.
Under the new deal, hundreds more French police officers will patrol beaches to “break” the business model of trafficking gangs, and there is expected to be greater intelligence-sharing and investment in technology.
The payments to France are likely to be controversial, with some Tory MPs expressing concerns that taxpayers’ money is being spent on addressing a problem that France should be handling on its own.
However, ministers argue that the costs will be less than the £56 million a day that the government is spending housing asylum seekers in hotels, discounting those who have arrived on the settlement scheme.
Absolute disgust that Sunak is giving even more money to Macron to sit on his arse and do nothing. Withdraw border farce and RNLI, replace with Royal Navy and tow all boats back to France….then pop the boats so they can’t be used again.