France and the UK have agreed to increase staffing at border controls to prevent travel chaos during the summer holidays. New EU fingerprinting and facial recognition checks are expected to cause significant delays at Channel crossings.
France and the UK are increasing border staff to prevent travel chaos during the summer holidays due to new EU fingerprinting and facial recognition checks. Disruption is expected at Channel crossings, with French officials assuring more staff will be deployed.
Two men, Mohammad Tajik and Alnour Ali, have been jailed in the UK for endangering others during sea crossings, marking the first sentences under a new law. Tajik received two years and Ali 27 months for their roles in steering overcrowded boats.
The UK has agreed to pay for 200 French officers to detain and deport asylum seekers from 10 specific nationalities under a new £662m deal with France. The detain-and-deport scheme targets nationals from Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria, Vietnam and Yemen at a new removal site in Dunkirk. The deal includes a £162m payment-by-results package on top of a new three-year £500m baseline agreement, with the Dunkirk facility expected to open by end of 2026.
Three-year deal includes funding for a riot squad to ‘disperse’ people trying to board small boatsThe UK government has agreed to pay France another £660m to curb the number of asylum seekers travelling across the Channel, including plans to fund a riot squad to “contain and disperse” people trying to board small boats.Under a three-year deal to be signed on Thursday by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, 1,100 enforcement, intelligence and military officers – an increase of 40% – will be employed to track down smuggling gangs and people seeking refuge. Continue reading...
The UK has signed a new £662m three-year deal with France to deploy at least 50 riot-trained police officers to French beaches, along with drones, helicopters and camera systems, to stop illegal migrants crossing the English Channel. The agreement includes performance-based funding where around £100m could be withdrawn after a year if French authorities fail to reduce crossings sufficiently. The deal comes amid increased Channel crossings with 41,472 arrivals in 2025 and over 6,000 in 2026 so far.
