Macron set to ask Sunak for ‘multimillion-pound annual payments’ to tackle small boats

Emmanuel Macron is expected to tell Rishi Sunak that Britain will have to make annual payments to France for greater help on the small boats crisis.

The UK has previously made one-off payments to the French government to boost patrols on the beaches of northern France in a bid to crack down on English Channel crossings.

But the French president will ask the prime minister for a “multi-year settlement” when the pair meet at a bilateral summit in Paris this Friday, according to The Times.

A French government source told the newspaper: “We’re trying to agree with our British counterparts a multi-annual financing framework that would allow us to better plan our actions and increase our human resources, equipment and infrastructure.”

French officials are said to be keen to do more than just put extra “boots on the ground” on the beaches at Calais, suggesting they could agree to increase equipment and infrastructure for patrols.

Mr Sunak and Mr Macron are expected to discuss an enhanced security agreement to try to stop people-trafficking operations at Calais and elsewhere on the French coast.

A No 10 source told The Independent: “Tackling illegal migration is a global challenge and it’s vital we work with our allies, particularly the French, to prevent crossings and loss of life in the Channel.

“We want to work together with the French so we can build on the joint approach we agreed last year and keep stepping up patrols and enforcement activity to clamp down on the gangs and stop more boats. This Friday’s Summit will be an opportunity to do just that.”

Home secretary Suella Braverman in November said the UK would pay £62m to increase French police patrols by 40 per cent.

But senior Tory MPs raised concerns about the prospect of a new deal, saying Britain did not appear to be getting value for money from the French.

Tim Loughton, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said Mr Sunak “should not be transferring more funds to France” unless the French authorities agreed to intercept boats.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith questioned why British funding had not been used on drones with night vision and other technologies.

“Are we subsidising them for something they should be doing anyway themselves? I don’t mind if we get value for money on it. The problem is I haven’t seen any evidence of value for money,” he said.

Ms Braverman sought to defend the planned ban on small boat arrivals from claiming asylum, insisting it wouldn’t break international law – despite telling MPs there was a greater than 50 per cent chance it could breach the European Convention on Human Rights.

The home secretary was unable to say when new detention centres for migrants who arrive on small boats would be built, when the first removals would happen or how much the policy would cost.

She said there were “no precise dates” for removals. On detention, she told Sky News: “We’ve got logistical challenges that we’re always overcoming. But very, very soon we will be expanding our detention capacity to meet the need.”

Former Tory refugee minister Lord Harrington told The Independent that the Sunak government must create new safe and legal routes for people fleeing persecution if it wants to claim the “moral high ground”.

And former justice Robert Buckland told The Independent he also wanted announcements on more safe and legal routes soon – as well as urging Mr Sunak to seek a returns agreement with France.

Mr Buckland, who said he was “carefully studying” the bill, said he hoped ministers would make sure any new resettlement scheme plans are “brought forward to coincide with the enactment of the bill”.

The home secretary is also under fire over a statement sent in her name to Tory members claiming that civil servants are part of an “activist blob” blocking attempts to stop the crossings.

The FDA union representing senior civil servants condemned Ms Braverman’s “cowardly attack” on their integrity. But No 10 later said that although the email was signed by Ms Braverman, she “did not see, sign off or sanction” it.