‘Almost impossible to halt’: should UK have handed France £54m to crack down on migrant Channel crossings?
French authorities insist that they will not stop boats at sea, or accept back migrants from the UK

“The disheartening truth is that France knows we’re a soft touch,” said the Daily Mail. Last week, the Home Secretary Priti Patel “bunged” the French £54m to crack down on illegal migration across the Channel. That’s on top of the £28m we paid them last year.
But what are we getting for our money? The French navy continues to “cynically escort” migrant boats into UK waters, where “the Border Force offers a taxpayer-funded taxi service to Dover”. The numbers heading for England in small boats have surged, rising from just 299 in 2018 to 8,400 last year to more than 8,900 so far in 2021.
“We welcome the Home Secretary’s plans for greater deterrents: boats turned back, asylum-seekers flown abroad as claims are assessed, penalties for those reaching our shores via safe countries.” But Patel must also demand “concrete action” from France, rather than just throwing “good money after bad”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
In fairness, France has had “some successes”, said Charles Hymas in The Daily Telegraph. Nearly 50% of migrants who try to leave its shores are now being stopped,a total of 7,500 this year; some 300 smugglers have been arrested.
The problem is that the overall numbers are increasing, and traffickers are expanding their operations across hundreds of miles of France’s northern coast. The French authorities also insist that they will not stop boats at sea, or accept back migrants from the UK – which has lost the right to return refugees to other EU nations because of Brexit.
Frankly, French and British interests “are not aligned” on this question, said James Forsyth in The Times. France, which had 92,000 asylum applications last year to the UK’s 27,000, is not particularly worried about people leaving its soil. The fact is that the Channel crossings are “almost impossible to halt”. Both traffickers and migrants know that “no civilised country can allow people to drown at sea”; this is why people get on overcrowded vessels. “And this is why Britain is about to be plunged into a similar crisis to the one Italy faced three years ago, albeit on a reduced scale.”
Perhaps we need to get it in proportion, said Sean O’Grady in The Independent. This is not an “invasion”. It’s a relatively small number of people turning up on our shores, many of whom have escaped civil war in their own lands. The situation is already looking very ugly: RNLI crews have received vile abuse for rescuing people from the Channel.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
It makes no sense to me at all, said Jeremy Clarkson in The Sun. We keep hearing that the post-Brexit exodus of EU citizens has left pubs, builders and farmers in dire need of staff. At the same time there are people turning up on our shores every day – just when the UK needs workers. “So why are we putting them in detention centres? Why aren’t we sending them to Norfolk, and employing them to pick vegetables?” These are people with real drive and “gumption”. And all we ever do “is think of ways to send them away”.
-
The ‘Shakespearean bitterness’ of the thermostat wars
Talking Point ‘Genuine physiological differences’ mean women and men are at odds over temperatures at home
-
China’s rare earth controls
The Explainer Beijing has shocked Washington with export restrictions on minerals used in most electronics
-
Quiz of The Week: 11 – 17 October
Quiz Have you been paying attention to The Week’s news?
-
Bad Bunny: Why MAGA is incensed
Feature The NFL announced Latino artist Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime headliner, sparking MAGA outrage
-
Supreme Court: Judging 20 years of Roberts
Feature Two decades after promising to “call balls and strikes,” Chief Justice John Roberts faces scrutiny for reshaping American democracy
-
Venezuela: Does Trump want war?
Feature Donald Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a drug cartel and waging a narco-terrorism campaign against the United States
-
Shutdown: Are Democrats fighting the right battle?
Feature Democrats are holding firm on health insurance subsidies as Trump ramps up the pain by freezing funding and vowing to cut more jobs
-
Two years on, a Gaza truce may be in sight
Feature Israel and Hamas consider the U.S.’ 20-point peace plan exchanging hostages for prisoners
-
Taking the low road: why the SNP is still standing strong
Talking Point Party is on track for a fifth consecutive victory in May’s Holyrood election, despite controversies and plummeting support
-
The GOP: Merging flag and cross
Feature Donald Trump has launched a task force to pursue “anti-Christian policies”
-
Taking aim at Venezuela’s autocrat
Feature The Trump administration is ramping up military pressure on Nicolás Maduro. Is he a threat to the U.S.?