 to Paris in return for it increasing patrols along the coastline. But even he appeared to admit the deal will not bring an immediate end to the problem. Instead he told reporters he was "confident" numbers would come down over time. Speaking on the plane to the G20 summit, he admitted he had spent more time working on the issue than any other, except the autumn statement, since entering No10. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly hailed the deal, saying: 'We'll have British Border Force officials working in the command centres with their French counterparts. Migrants sit beside a boat used to cross the English Channel in November last year ( AFP via Getty Images) 'We will have more French officers on the beaches. 'There are other more technical details about making sure that we have very, very fast flows of information sharing as well.' But will it work? Critics think not. The government has already paid 200 million euros (£175million) to Paris since 2018 to end the crossings, but things have got worse. The number who have made the journey in small boats this year passed 40,000 yesterday, up from 28,526 in 2021. Steve Valdez-Symonds, Amnesty International UK's Refugee and Migrant Rights Director, said: 'This deal is just the same as previous deals.' He added: 'Unless the UK government accepts its share of people into its asylum system - particularly people with family and connections in the UK - there seems little prospect that anything is){kind=link}
Britain is dishing out £63million to France in return for more patrols, drones and night vision goggles, and Border Force staff entering French control rooms. But the 843-word deal is vague – and critics say it’s inhumane
Rishi Sunak is accused of “recycling” the same old failed ideas after he agreed to pay France tens of millions of pounds to tackle the dangerous Channel crossings.
The PM will hand 72million euros (£63 million) to Paris in return for it increasing patrols along the coastline.
But even he appeared to admit the deal will not bring an immediate end to the problem.
Instead he told reporters he was “confident” numbers would come down over time.