Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what UK funding has been provided to local communities in France to mitigate the economic impact of illegal crossings of the English Channel.

The UK and France maintain a longstanding relationship on tackling illegal migration.

Since signing the Sandhurst Treaty in 2018 with France the UK has provided almost €500 million in funding to support our joint work to tackle small boats crossings.

UK funding supports French authorities to mitigate the impact of illegal crossings on local communities in northern France, for example by providing port security infrastructure and funding additional law enforcement personnel to manage the presence of migrants attempting to cross the Channel by small boat in the local area.

UK-France cooperation to tackle small boats has resulted in over 25,000 small boats crossings prevented so far this year, with overall small boats arrivals down by over a third compared to 2022.