Are more small boats being stopped by French police?
- Published
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has defended the government's progress in stopping small boats carrying migrants from crossing the English Channel.
He told BBC Breakfast the government was working constructively with the French authorities and claimed: "there's been 40% more boats stopped by the French authorities this year than last year".
But that's not correct according to currently available figures.
How many boats have been stopped?
The UK and French governments have not yet published figures for the numbers of small boats stopped this year.
The Department of Health and Social Care told BBC Verify that Mr Barclay had actually been referring to Home Office figures comparing 2022 with 2021 and "misspoke on the year".
The Home Office published those figures, external in January 2023 and said that the French authorities prevented 33,000 crossings in 2022, which was an increase of more than 40% on the number of crossings prevented in 2021.
But the government told us that this data refers to individual people prevented from crossing the Channel, not boats as Mr Barclay stated.
The Home Office also confirmed to us that the French authorities intercepted 1,381 boats in 2022. We have asked for comparable figures for 2021, but have not yet seen them.
While the number of interceptions increased between 2021 and 2022, the proportion of people stopped from crossing fell slightly: 43% of people who attempted to cross the Channel in small boats were stopped in 2022, compared with approximately 50% the year before, according to, external a Home Office official's evidence to MPs.
What agreement does the UK have with France?
The two countries have being working together to tackle illegal migration for years.
The UK has signed eight agreements with France since 2014.
On 14 November 2022, external, an agreement increased the number of patrol officers in northern France by 40%.
The new agreement linked specialist officers from the UK and France to improve intelligence sharing.
Critics of the agreement, such as Conservative MP Tim Loughton, said it didn't go far enough.
How much has it cost?
The border security agreements with France have cost about £232m, according to, external the House of Commons Library:
2014: £12m over three years
2015: £10m over two years
2016: £17m
2018: £45.5m
2019: £3.25m
2020: £28.1m
2021: £54m
2022: £62.2m.
A further £87m has been paid to France since 2014 for border control purposes, according to the same briefing paper.
The UK committed to another £476m of funding in France between 2023 and 2026, in a joint UK-France declaration, external on addressing illegal migration.
All of these figures are in cash terms and have not been adjusted for inflation.
