France has been slammed by Tory MPs after an official report argued said it is Britain’s fault that they have failed to stop migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.
Amid ongoing criticism that the French police are failing to intercept boats of migrants once they have entered the water, a report by the country’s independent Court of Accounts said the UK is failing to properly coordinate efforts with France, leading to “uncertain effectiveness” of illegal migration policies.
The body, in charge of auditing France’s public spending, said their Government is “struggling to develop operational cooperation arrangements” with Britain, pointing the finger of blame at the Joint Intelligence Unit set up in 2020 to fight human smuggling.
The French Court argued that the British “don’t provide usable information on the departures of small boats, and give very general, first-level information that has not been counter-checked”.
However, the accusation was quickly rejected by UK sources, with a Home Office spokesman accusing the French of publishing “out-of-date” and inaccurate information.
The Home Official official said the report “does not accurately reflect our current working relationship, including intelligence sharing, with France”.
Sources claimed France’s report was based on the state of affairs before Rishi Sunak and President Emmanuel Macron signed a new migrant deal in March 2023, which was hailed as a “reset” of Anglo-French relations.
Senior Conservative MP Tim Loughton, who serves on Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee blasted the French authorities for complaining, despite receiving hundreds of millions from British taxpayers to police their borders.
Mr Loughton told the Express: “It is ironic that the French authorities are complaining that they are not getting enough from British agencies except for the record £480 million subsidy the French police are getting from the British taxpayer, yet their intervention rates show no improvement”.
He defended British Border Force from the criticism levelled at them in the French report, arguing: “Border Force are meticulous in scrutinising all evidence from arriving migrants including the origin of life jackets and dinghy engines to help to trace them back to smuggling gangs, yet it is down to the French to execute them against criminals mostly based in France”.
“They really need to do a better job of recording and detaining all those entering France illegally rather than constantly blaming others.
“The British taxpayer is being scammed by the French Govt and it is time we saw real results from our subsidies.”
Fellow Tory MP and Tory Deputy Chairman Brendan Clarke-Smith described the allegations that the UK is not “keeping its side of the bargain” as “strange”.
“We have firstly provided more than adequate funding, and secondly been the ones who are the endpoint for illegal migrants – rather than being their point of departure, the French coast.
“They need to properly evidence their claims, as they appear on the surface to be nonsensical.”
Mr Clarke-Smith also pointed out that Britain’s cooperation with Belgium has already shown it is “perfectly possible” to stop small boat crossings.
The Home Office spokesman said the UK continues to work closely with French partners at all levels.
“In the last two years, we have taken more robust action alongside them to crack down on vile people-smuggling gangs and stop the boats.
“This relentless action has seen crossings fall by 36% in the last year. More than 26,000 of these dangerous, illegal and unnecessary crossing attempts were prevented in 2023 thanks to our strong partnership with France.”
