£700 Million to France — and 188,000 Small-Boat Arrivals in Return
A decade of cheques, and all we get is a taxpayer-funded ferry line - is it time for a refund?
💷 700 Million Down the Drain
Since 2014, Britain has spent over £700 million paying France to stop illegal migration, long before the small boats even began. What started as funding for fences and security at Calais has spiralled into a decade of cheques to Paris for patrols, drones, detention centres, and now joint “command hubs” — all to curb crossings that only keep rising.
The biggest chunk came from the three-year deal signed in March 2023, worth €541 million (around £476 million). It was sold as the breakthrough: 24/7 patrols, surveillance aircraft, and a binational command centre to “drastically reduce crossings”.
Two years later, numbers are up 25% year on year — and rather than slow the traffic under Starmer, it’s going back up again.
Even the French authorities now admit it’s all political theatre.
🚨 France Walks Away
The BBC has revealed that France is quietly backing away from its own promise to intervene at sea. Patrol boats — funded by British taxpayers — have been filmed watching dinghies launch without taking action.
French officials call the idea “political spin” — too risky, too messy, and not their responsibility.
So, while Britain pays, France steps back, and the smugglers continue loading the next boat.
⚓ The “One-In, One-Out” Farce
When the crossings kept climbing, ministers pointed to the new ‘one-in, one-out’ returns deal as proof that things were finally changing. Announced on 2 July 2025, it was sold as the breakthrough that would “restore control” and “end the incentive to come illegally.”
But since that announcement, 16,532 people have arrived by small boat. The deal itself only came into force on 5 August, and by 22 October — eleven weeks later — just 42 migrants had been returned to France.
There were rumours at the time that around 50 people a week would be sent back once the deal was up and running. But even that figure — had it ever been achieved — wouldn’t have made a dent in the scale of arrivals.
The reality is it’s turned out far lower, averaging just four returns a week since August. One of those who was removed, an Iranian man, has since returned to the UK.
And remember: for every person removed, we swap one back in from France anyway.
So even when it “works”, the numbers in Britain don’t go down.
This policy is nothing but words — expensive symbolism dressed up as border control.
🛑 Time for Real Change — and Real Safety
The government’s job is to protect the public, not to perform for headlines. Yet we still don’t know who many of these people are.
🚨 Last week, a Sudanese asylum seeker, Deng Majek, was found guilty of murdering 28-year-old Rhiannon Whyte, stabbed 23 times with a screwdriver on a Walsall train platform after finishing her shift at the hotel where he was being housed.
Some will call you racist for asking how people like this are allowed into Britain with no proper vetting or background checks — but these are the real-world consequences of a broken system.
And just this weekend, the country watched another scandal unfold. An Ethiopian asylum seeker, Hadush Kebatu, convicted of sexually assaulting a woman and a schoolgirl, was mistakenly released from prison and spent 48 hours at large before finally being re-arrested in London. He had arrived in Britain only months earlier by small boat.
Even ministers admit it “beggars belief” that a convicted sex offender who should have been deported was freed to walk the streets. He will reportedly be deported this week — but the damage to public confidence is already done.
While these individuals may be a minority, try telling that to the victims’ families. Until the government gets a grip on who is entering the country and ensures dangerous offenders are never released into communities, the system will keep failing the people it’s supposed to protect.
🔒 The Solution
We cannot continue pretending this is manageable. The pull factor of coming to Britain must be removed, and everyone arriving illegally should be processed in a safe third country.
Until we know exactly who people are — their identity, background, and criminal record — they should not be allowed to integrate into communities. That’s not cruelty; it’s common sense.
Britain can be compassionate and firm at the same time. But right now, we are neither.
🧾 The Bottom Line
Since this crisis began, 188,092 people have crossed the Channel in small boats. That’s 188,000 arrivals despite nearly £700 million of UK taxpayers’ money being handed to France to stop them.
And what have we got for it? French patrols filmed standing by as boats launched.
A “returns deal” sends back barely four people a week. And a government clinging to slogans while the gangs grow richer.
France refuses to act at sea. The returns deal is tokenistic. And ministers keep performing for the cameras while the boats keep coming.
This isn’t control. It’s surrender — paid for by the British public.
✍️ Jamie Jenkins (hit subscribe - it’s free)
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