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Suella Braverman has been urged to “stand up” to France as reports emerged the country is intercepting fewer migrants in the Channel despite a £480m funding deal.
The call from Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis came as The Telegraph claimed just 45.2% of migrants have been stopped by French patrols since January, down from 45.8% in the same period last year.
This is despite Prime Minister Rishi Sunak agreeing a £480m Anglo-French deal in March as part of his pledge to “stop the boats”, far beyond the £54m the UK paid France for assistance in the Channel in 2021.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Gullis said the government must “make clear that we will demand a certain level of payment back” if the situation in the Channel does not improve.
He also urged the Home Office to consider “taking people back to France ourselves if we are picking people up in French territorial waters”.
“If the French don’t like it, then that’s tough on them,” the MP for Stoke-on-Trent North said.
Mr Gullis added that Home Secretary Suella Braverman and immigration minister Robert Jenrick should stand “side-by-side, united in message and in voice” and “stand up” for the British public.
They should “say to their French counterparts: ‘This is not good enough,'” he said.
“They may ruffle some feathers but… we can’t allow to be taken for a ride.”
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The new data, from the Hauts-de-France prefecture via The Telegraph, details how the number of migrants crossing the Channel has fallen by 18% in the last year.
However, the number of migrants stopped on French beaches also fell – from 17,032 last year to…
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