Britain’s £500m deal with France to intercept small boats is being reviewed after Rwanda scheme was scrapped
BRITAIN’S deal with France to intercept small boats is being reviewed, The Sun can reveal.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has ordered a full assessment of the £500million agreement over fears UK taxpayers are not getting value for money.
This week alone, more than 1,500 migrants crossed the Channel while 12 died when their boat capsized.
The review follows Labour’s immediate axing of the Tories’ Rwanda migrant scheme and the decision to no longer use the Bibby Stockholm barge, moored off Dorset, to house up to 500 asylum seekers.
Under the terms of a deal signed by former PM Rishi Sunak, Britain is set to pay France £161million this year and £176million next year for French police to prevent beach launches.
The figure is supposed to include a new detention centre, which The Sun has revealed is still not under construction.
READ MORE ON SMALL BOATS
Last night a Labour source said: “We inherited all kinds of commitments from the Tories, including £700million for a completely ridiculous scheme in Rwanda.
“We’re looking at all sorts of projects and costs across government.
“This includes the half a billion the last government committed to spending in France.”
Sir Keir Starmer said during the Election campaign: “All the reports I’ve seen on that initiative show that it’s not proving effective, and I think that’s shown by the numbers that we’re seeing — record numbers.”
German migration commissioner Joachim Stamp has proposed sending EU illegal migrants to the facilities in Rwanda paid for by UK.
VAN driver Anas Al Mustafa, 43, of Swansea, was yesterday jailed for ten years at Lewes crown court for smuggling migrants — discovered in a hidden compartment as they ran out of oxygen and yelled for help at Newhaven port.
'Winning on boats'
SIR Keir Starmer insists progress is being made in the small boats Channel crisis — despite 12 people losing their lives this week.
The PM and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper held a summit with Cabinet colleagues and intelligence officers yesterday on plans to smash smuggling gangs.
Sir Keir revealed that he has had chats with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and France’s President Emmanuel Macron, and said: “I think we’re beginning to make some real progress.”
It comes after 1,276 made the trip this week, with 12 dying when their boat sank.
Ms Cooper said in the past two months there had been significant seizures of boats and equipment in France to help stop the crossings.