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Britain will pay France to deport migrants trying to cross the Channel in small boats. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has confirmed Paris will use a new detention centre in Dunkirk to remove hundreds of asylum seekers every year.

But Britain will pay France to do this, the Daily Express understands, as part of Labour’s £660million deal with Emmanuel Macron’s Government. Migrants will be deported back to their home countries or other EU countries they have passed through, the Home Office said.

Reform’s Zia Yusuf told the Daily Express: “Labour is handing over hundreds of millions of British taxpayers’ money to the French to deport migrants from France. Britain will now be paying for another country to handle its illegal arrivals.

“This is not just a grotesque misuse of public money, the detention centre Britain is funding will take nine months to build and hold just two boats’ worth of migrants.

“In that time, thousands more will invade our shores, be housed at taxpayers’ expense and given benefits such as tennis lessons and trips to the zoo.

“Reform UK will detain and deport illegal migrants and bring this farce to an end.”

Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said: “Buried in the small print of Labour’s France deal is a provision that will see British taxpayers fund the removal of immigrants who have absolutely nothing to do with us, people who are France’s legal responsibility, France’s problem, and France’s bill to pay.

“Labour have handed over two-thirds of a billion pounds of public money, negotiated so badly that they could not even ensure it would be spent on stopping boats to Britain rather than clearing France’s own backlog.

“This is an incompetent government that has been taken to the cleaners by a foreign government because they have lost control of our borders.”

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “This Government is bearing down on illegal small boat crossings.

“Under this new agreement, we will remove those with no right to be here before they attempt to cross the Channel – starting this year.

“We will restore order and control to our boarders.”

The deal will see officers targeting and detaining small boat migrants on French beaches. They will then be taken to the removal centre to be deported.

While the site is under construction, officials will use a removal centre in Coquelles.

Home Office sources said that if it doesn’t lead to a reduction in crossings, the payments will be cancelled.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has agreed to give Paris £500 million for an increase in police patrols, a new vessel to intercept migrant taxi boats, two helicopters, drones and a camera surveillance system.

And the Home Office will hand the French another £160m to test new tactics to stop Channel migrant crossings. One of the proposals being tested is paying France to detain and deport migrants on their coastline.

Critics blasted the latest handouts as the three-year package will take the total given to Emmanuel Macron’s Government to more than £1.3 billion.

Paris will receive £220 million this year as part of a desperate bid to prevent a Summer surge in arrivals.

The Home Office claimed the deal will lead to almost 1,100 police, intelligence and military officers being deployed in Northern France to track down migrants and snare smugglers.

This would be an increase of 40%, from almost 700 officers under Rishi Sunak’s deal with Emmanuel Macron, sources said.

And Paris has vowed to use a new maritime vessel – as well as 20 officers – to intercept more migrant taxi boats in the water. The French claimed they have stopped six of the vessels in the past two months.

A new unit of 50 specialist riot officers will also be deployed to the beaches amid fears over a surge in violence on the French coast.

This is despite France’s Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS), which specialises in crowd control and maintaining public order, regularly being deployed to the beaches and standing by as migrants dash into the water.

Home Office sources said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is willing to withhold £100m if France fails to stop enough Channel migrant crossings.

The UK is expecting a “significant” fall, it is understood. The cash could be “redirected” if other tactics are proven to work.

Labour’s £660m deal comes after former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak signed a three-year £475m agreement with Emmanuel Macron in 2023.

This came after a series of pledges, totalling around £200m, between 2018 and 2022.

The number of boats being intercepted has fallen over the past five years to a record low.

Out of 6,233 attempted crossings in the first 12 weeks of this year, some 2,064 (33.1 per cent) were stopped.

That was down from 35.1 per cent last year and 36.7 per cent in 2024.

In total, 22,476 migrants were stopped from crossing to the UK last year.

In 2021, 23,923 departures were prevented. This increased to 33,000 in 2022, before dropping again to 26,000 in 2023.

The House of Commons Library said partial figures for 2024 – from May to December – revealed 21,317 were stopped from reaching the UK.

Some 41,472 migrants crossed the Channel last year, up from 36,566 in 2024.

More than 6,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year.