𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Nigel Farage has slammed Labour’s “ludicrous” attempts to tackle the small boat crisis as a new migrant deal with France stalled. The Reform UK leader said Sir Keir Starmer has “no plan B” as the renegotiation of an existing £475 million scheme broke down.

British taxpayers will now be forced to fork out an extra £16 million over the next two months while negotiations continue. Mr Farage warned the government’s failure to strike a deal by the deadline could trigger a fresh wave of illegal migrants crossing the English Channel.

Mr Farage told the Express: “This deal is more of the same from the Prime Minister who promised us he would smash the gangs and yet delivered levels of illegal migration through Dover. The Home Office has tried to tell us this is the best deal for Brits. The only deal the British people overwhelmingly support is leaving the ECHR, deporting these people and finally stop the boats once and for all.”

He added: “70,000 young men have come in under his leadership. He has no plan b, it’s just ludicrous.”

The Reform UK leader has previously called for no money to be sent to France until they increase the amount of crossings they intercept. Home Office sources slammed those proposals saying they were “completely reckless” and would lead to a “surge in illegal migrants getting to Britian”. A spokesman said that Mr Farage would “welcome [illegals] with open arms” if he went ahead with plans to not send any money to the continent to strangle the influx.

Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp MP, said that France has been “stopping fewer small boat illegal immigrants than ever.” He added: “The bottom line is there should not be any illegal immigrants attempting to seek asylum in the UK having left France in the first place – because France is a safe country.”

Mr Philp said: “Labour don’t have the backbone to get a deal over the line. They are now going to pay £2 million a week for continued failure. We shouldn’t pay the French a penny until they agree to substantially increase their prevention rate and start intercepting at sea by force – as they promised last summer.”

Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary said that a “new and improved UK-France deal” was yet to be finalised but stressed that whilst negotiations took place “French law enforcement operations to stop illegal migrants in France will continue.” She added: “I will do whatever it takes to restore order and control at our borders.”

Officials pointed to some 42,000 illegals having been stopped from making the crossing. But reports show that in the first 12 weeks of 2026 the number of small boat crossings being stopped by France has dropped to 33.1%, the lowest rate since 2018 when the crisis began.

Paris has laid the blame at the feet of people smugglers using new methods to evade border guard efforts to stop them. Xavier Ducept, French junior minister for the sea, last week demanded that the UK “contribute to funding interception systems, which are very expensive”.

Some 6,233 attempted crossings took place in the first 12 weeks of the year, with only 2,064 being stopped according to reports by the Telegraph.

The current deal was initially signed in 2023 by then Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. It saw the UK paying £476million to France to fund extra patrols to catch smuggling gangs. When it was announced, the deal was intended to pay for a detention centre in France as well as the recruitment of new officers on the French coastline.

But it faced criticism over a lack of hard targets attached to the deal and even saw reports that border guards on the French side had refused to intercept boats making the crossing over safety concerns for their passengers. Negotiations around the renewal of the deal initially stalled after Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, reportedly tried to get the French to increase the number of dinghies they intercepted.

Whitehall officials have previously said they are seeking to add “flexibility and innovation” to the agreement. Speaking to the media at Heathrow Airport, Mr Farage demanded the UK leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to bring an end to small boat crossings.

Saying the English Channel would be “busy” once the deal expired, the Reform UK leader said “it wouldn’t make any difference whether we agreed to a further £365 million or not” adding that those who make the crossing have a 97.5% chance of staying in the UK. He added that under his plans the Royal Navy would tow boats back to France, adding: “None of this will happen all the while we stay part of the outdated European Convention on Human Rights.”

Home Office officials insist that nearly 60,000 migrants who have made the illegal channel crossing have been deported since the general election. At present the multimillion-pound package has been used to fund some 900 officers from a range of services who patrol French beaches to frustrate the efforts of people traffickers.