Blow to Labour as migrant deal with France branded ‘bad value for money’ | UK | News
A senior Belgian official has described Britain’s new deal with France to stop migrants crossing the Channel as “bad value for money”. Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood signed a three-year deal with France on Thursday to pay £662 million to support beach patrols as part of efforts to reduce arrivals.
The UK will hand over £501 million to cover enforcement activities and five police units on the French coast, with an additional £160 million to be paid only if the new tactics are successful. West Flanders Governor Carl Deluwe warned that millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money would achieve little. he said Telegram: “You get nothing; nothing… If you look at the results – year after year – new records!”
Mr. Deluwe, a former member of Belgium’s center-right Christian Democratic and Flemish Party, added that he had called for the closure of the France-Belgium border, which would be a major breach of the Schengen area, which allows passport-free travel between 29 member countries.
“A few weeks ago I asked for the border to be closed, but of course the politicians and Brussels are not happy about it,” he said. “I think we need to do more checks because we know most of the people are coming from France.”
The Home Office said the new agreement would see officers “target and detain” small boat migrants off the French coast in a bid to remove hundreds from beaches each year.
If the efforts fail, additional funding is expected to stop after a year, but ministers have not set specific targets to measure the success of the arrangement.
Mr Deluwe’s comments came after the first group arrived in small boats since the agreement was signed, where more than a dozen people thought to be migrants were photographed arriving at the Border Security Command compound in Dover on Saturday.
A total of more than 6,000 migrants have reached the UK so far this year after making the perilous journey from France; This figure decreased by 36% compared to this period last year.
