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PARIS — French authorities spent U.K. money aimed at preventing migrants from crossing the English Channel on equipment ranging from high-tech surveillance gear to vacuum cleaners and phone chargers for cars, a breakdown of spending reveals for the first time.
Funds given to France under the Sandhurst Treaty were also used to police the border with Italy, 900 kilometers from the English Channel, according to the records obtained by POLITICO under freedom of information rules.
French police have stopped fewer than half of all migrants attempting to cross the English Channel since the deal was signed in 2018, the records show, prompting fresh doubts over U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s promise to “stop the boats” as an election looms.
Budget documents show how France has spent the £40.4 million (€46.5 million) the U.K. has given its neighbor under the treaty on border security negotiated by President Emmanuel Macron and then-Prime Minister Theresa May.
A significant portion of the money has been spent on transport — including helicopters, cars, motorbikes, e-scooters and quad bikes — and equipment for surveillance of the border, such as binoculars, drones, dash cams, hunting cameras, endoscopes, and software.
However, Sandhurst funds have also been used to equip French police with everyday appliances such as microwaves, vacuum cleaners for cars, and car adapters for charging devices.
A total of £130,383 (€150,000) was used to set up a horse brigade in the baie de Somme, buying riding boots, helmets and care for the horses, with annual operating costs of £26,000 (€30,000 euros).
British money was also spent by a division of the French force which polices the Franco-Italian border, buying vehicles, printers and drones.
Half of this expenditure took place in 2023, when more than £17.4 million (€20 million euros) was spent, whereas in 2019 — the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic — spending from the British fund stood at only £1.7 million (€1.9 million euros).
British funding represented ten percent of France’s total budget for the protection of its borders in 2023, according to budget documents, and the U.K. intends to allocate a further €540.3 million to France for the same purpose between now and 2026.
Asked by POLITICO, the French interior ministry refused to comment on the numbers specifically, but stressed their focus is on dismantling smuggling networks, with 47 groups broken up in 2022 and 28 so far in 2023. An official speaking on condition of anonymity added that there was “some logic” in financing forces on the Franco-Italian border as some migrants who arrive in the Calais region have come to France via Italy.
A U.K. Home Office spokesperson declined to comment on specific areas of spending, but said: “The unacceptable number of people risking their lives by making these dangerous crossings is placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system.”
They added: “Our priority is to stop the boats, and thanks to the work of the Small Boats Operational Command alongside our French partners, crossings are down by more than 20 percent compared to the same point last year.”
Between January 2018 and August 2023, French police detected and prevented 3,400 small boats, carrying some 81,000 people, from reaching England, according to another document obtained.
But the figures also show that 3,500 small boats, carrying 111,000 people, were recorded as making the journey successfully. The true number may be larger, as some migrants have been able to arrive in the U.K. undetected.
Dan O’Mahoney, director of the Clandestine Channel Threat Command, told the U.K. parliament’s home affairs committee last year that to intercept half of attempted crossings represented “a significant achievement” but at the same time the numbers allowed to cross were “still completely unacceptable.”
Peter William Walsh, senior researcher at the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, said the number prevented from crossing was “no small feat, and reflects the large investment made by the British and French,” but “with 111,000 people successfully making the crossing, this will not be thought of as a policy success.”
