The UK has failed to agree a new deal with France to stop small boats crossing the Channel after negotiations stalled amid a row over policing on Calais beaches.
Ministers were instead forced to agree a two-month extension to the existing multimillion-pound agreement with just hours to go before it expired at midnight on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Shabana Mahmood said the extension was necessary because the home secretary is “driving a hard bargain with the French to deliver the best deal for the British people to prevent illegal migrants getting to Britain and risking their lives”, adding that ministers want “more bang for our buck” from the deal.
It is understood that the Home Office is pushing for a significant increase in law enforcement officers on French beaches and a ramping up of measures to prevent migrants from making the dangerous crossings, including intercepting boats in the water.
It has previously been reported that the home secretary was pushing for performance-related clauses that would link a package of £650m in funding to the number of boats intercepted by the French.
Ms Mahmood’s spokesperson also took aim at Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which has previously said it would not give France “another penny” and described the deal as a “scam”.
“Reform’s comments are completely reckless, and would see a surge of migrants crossing the Channel and risking their lives. This is completely reckless.
“Look at the work that we’ve done with the French since being in government: 42,000 migrants being stopped from making that perilous journey. Farage would risk their lives and open them with welcome arms into Britain”, the spokesperson said.
The existing arrangement, worth £478 million package, was announced in 2023 and expires at the end of March.
When it was announced, the previous Tory government said it would fund a new detention centre in France and hundreds of extra law enforcement officers on French shores.
But crossings in the Channel have since spiralled, with some 41,472 people arriving in the UK by small boat in 2025, and Ms Mahmood is now under pressure to bring numbers down.
Last week, amid growing speculation about the future of the deal, Downing Street insisted that Britain and France are “united” in their aim to stop small boat crossings and said the UK is looking to ensure “long-term value for money” as part of any new agreement with Paris.
But the prime minister’s spokesperson refused to be drawn on how much money the government was prepared to hand France for a fresh deal.
Asked whether Sir Keir Starmer wanted to see the existing deal improved, his spokesperson said: “We always want to improve where we can improve our abilities to prevent small boat crossings.
“I won’t get ahead of negotiations but we are looking at how we can build flexibility and innovation into any deal with the French to ensure that there is long-term value for money and a real impact on small boat crossings that builds on the 40,000 crossing attempts that have been prevented since this government came into office.”
Asked whether the agreement had provided value for money, he said the preventions were “a testament to the work our teams have been undertaking with French teams.”
“We are united in wanting to stop small boat crossings, which put lives at risk,” the official added.
So far this year, some 4,169 people have arrived in the UK on small boats, according to official figures.
The deal’s extension came as charities and campaign groups urged the government to do more to stop people from losing their lives in the Channel, calling for them to open up safe and legal routes for refugees.
Imran Hussain, director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said: “Policing the Channel alone is not enough to stop small boat crossings. If the government are truly going to smash the gangs, they must address the root issue of why people take dangerous journeys in the first place.
“We know from our frontline services that there are many reasons why people fleeing persecution and brutal conflict in countries like Sudan and Afghanistan want to come here – many already speak some English, have family here, or have cultural connections to Britain.
“But the government has shut down the few safe and legal pathways available, including family reunion, a route that overwhelmingly helped women and children. All this does is push more desperate people into the hands of smugglers.”
Meanwhile, Tim Naor Hilton, the chief executive of Refugee Action, said it was “scandalous that UK governments have spent hundreds of millions of pounds of public money per year paying the French state to brutalise people seeking safety”.
He added: “Instead of renewing its cruel and costly deal with France, which has made no impact on Channel crossings, the government should invest that money in establishing new safe routes for people to seek asylum without having to further risk their lives.”
