Is that it? Burnham to plead with Macron for more help in stopping the boats after France offers just 45 officers to tackle new mega-dinghies
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Andy Burnham is set to press Emmanuel Macron for greater French action against Channel crossings, after Paris offered just 45 extra officers to combat the rise of "mega-dinghies" carrying up to 230 migrants. The Prime Minister will hold talks with the French President in Downing Street on Thursday, arguing that this summer's fall in crossings shows what UK-French cooperation can achieve, while also urging Macron to extend the "one in, one out" removals deal. The Conservatives dismissed the plans as a "joke", arguing that rough Channel weather, not policy, explains the recent drop in crossings, and that gangs have not been "smashed".
The new French "surge team" of 45 officers, funded by Britain, will target western beaches used for launching the oversized dinghies, taking the total French police assigned to the issue above 1,000 for the first time, including a new 75-strong specialist unit. The "one in, one out" deal has so far returned around 1,400 migrants to France, roughly three per cent of arrivals, while shadow home secretary Chris Philp said 95 per cent of illegal immigrants since the election have been allowed to stay and called for payments under the £660 million Franco-British deal to be suspended until French police stop all embarkations in shallow water. Burnham is also expected to raise Ukraine, the Middle East and a UK-EU summit expected this autumn.
- France offers only 45 extra officers against Channel "mega-dinghies" carrying 230 migrants.
- Burnham to press Macron for more action and extend "one in, one out" deal.
- Tories call plan a "joke", citing weather-driven fall in crossings and low removal rates.
New here? Start with this
Andy Burnham is holding talks with French President Emmanuel Macron at Downing Street about how to reduce the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats. France has recently announced it will send 45 extra police officers to patrol beaches used for launching so-called "mega-dinghies", which can carry up to 230 people at once, far more than older, smaller boats.
Cooperation between Britain and France on this issue includes a "one in, one out" agreement, under which some migrants who arrive in the UK by boat can be returned to France, while an equivalent number of asylum seekers already in France with a legitimate claim are allowed to come to Britain legally. The scheme is meant to discourage people from paying smugglers to make the dangerous Channel crossing, and Britain has committed significant funding to support French policing efforts as part of the wider partnership.
Small boat crossings have been a long-running and politically sensitive issue in the UK, with successive governments under pressure to show they can control the numbers arriving. The opposition Conservative Party has been critical of the current government's approach, questioning whether the measures announced so far are enough to make a real difference.
Full account
Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set to press French President Emmanuel Macron for greater action against Channel crossings, as officials confirmed that a newly announced 'surge team' of French police tasked with tackling so-called 'mega-dinghies' will number just 45 officers. The commitment forms part of a wider package agreed between London and Paris as Macron visits Britain, with the two leaders holding talks in Downing Street. The new unit will be deployed to beaches in western France, where smuggling gangs have increasingly turned to launching oversized, overcrowded dinghies capable of carrying more than 200 people at once.
The announcement builds on the UK's existing funding arrangement with France, under which Britain is providing roughly £660 million over three years to support policing of the northern French coastline, with a further portion of that sum reserved for new tactics such as intercepting 'taxi boats' that pick up migrants offshore. Officials said the additional officers would bring the overall number of French personnel dedicated to preventing launches to just over 1,000, with a specialist intelligence and judicial unit also being expanded to focus on dismantling the criminal networks organising crossings. The government pointed to a fall in crossing numbers this year and said French teams funded by the UK had prevented well over a hundred crossing attempts in recent months.
The scale of individual crossings has nonetheless been growing even as overall numbers fall, with a single dinghy carrying a record 230 migrants last month, described by French rescuers as visibly straining under the weight of its passengers, surpassing an earlier record set in July. Burnham said the progress made this summer showed what could be achieved through UK-French cooperation, while cautioning that smuggling gangs were continually adapting their methods and that both governments needed to stay ahead of them. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the joint effort was 'bearing fruit' and that officer numbers were being raised to record levels to target both launches and the gangs behind them. Burnham is also expected to press Macron on extending the 'one in, one out' returns arrangement with France, a scheme that has so far seen a relatively small proportion of arrivals sent back in exchange for an equivalent number of asylum seekers being allowed to travel legally to the UK.
The Conservatives dismissed the new measures as inadequate, with shadow home secretary Chris Philp arguing that the fall in crossings owed more to poor weather in the Channel than to policing efforts, and pointing to footage he said showed French gendarmes declining to intervene as migrants boarded a dinghy in shallow water. He called for payments under the funding deal to be withheld until French authorities stopped all such embarkations, and criticised both the returns scheme and the broader response to people-smuggling networks as failing to make a meaningful dent in overall arrival numbers this year. Downing Street rejected the criticism, maintaining that the funding arrangement with France was making a genuine difference and describing the returns deal as a significant step in the right direction despite the modest numbers involved so far.
Where outlets differ
The Mail frames the story critically, with Burnham 'begging' Macron for more help and Conservative claims that the package is a 'joke', while the Independent presents the announcement in a more neutral, factual register with fewer political attacks.
The two reports differ on the day of the Downing Street talks: the Mail places them on Thursday (after a Wednesday-evening visit to a Bayeux Tapestry exhibition), while the Independent describes Macron and Burnham meeting on Wednesday.
Figures on the overall French police contingent differ slightly — the Mail says the total tops 1,000 with a new 75-strong specialist unit, whereas the Independent puts the total at nearly 1,050 and describes an existing specialist unit being expanded from 18 to 30 officers.
The Independent includes additional statistics not in the Mail's account, such as a 23% year-on-year fall in crossings, 185 crossings prevented by French teams between late April and early August, and the £160m earmarked specifically for new tactics like tackling 'taxi boats'.
The Mail gives much greater space to Conservative criticism from Chris Philp, including his claims about gendarmes failing to intervene and calls to suspend funding, whereas the Independent focuses more on government quotes, including from Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, without featuring opposition reaction.
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