Home Office pledges extra £100m for 'one-in, one-out' migrant deal but Farage and Tories say its not enough
The Government will give an extra £100m in funding to support the pilot 'one-in, one-out' Channel migrant returns deal between Britain and France, it has announced.
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The cash will pay for up to 300 more National Crime Agency (NCA) officers and new tech to fulfil Labour's manifesto promise to "smash" smuggling gangs.
The new funds will also pay for more overtime for immigration compliance and enforcement teams as well as funding for interventions in transit countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
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Small boats crossings have topped 25,000 for the year so far in 2025 - a record for this point in the year.
Sir Keir Starmer announced the new migration deal with France in July after crunch talks with French President, Emmanuel Macron.
The two leaders pledged to tackle the "global crisis" of illegal migration with the "groundbreaking" agreement, which will allow illegal migrants to be returned to France quickly in exchange for someone legally allowed to live in the UK.
The funding announcement comes a day after the Government said that anyone who advertises small boat crossings or fake passports on social media could be face up to five years in prison under a new offence to be introduced to Parliament this year.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Labour had set the foundations for a "new and much stronger law enforcement approach" over the last year.
She said: "Now this additional funding will strengthen every aspect of our plan and will turbo-charge the ability of our law enforcement agencies to track the gangs and bring them down, working with our partners overseas, and using state-of-the-art technology and equipment.
"Alongside our new agreements with France, this will help us drive forward our plan for change commitments to protect the UK's border security and restore order to our immigration system."
The NCA has 91 ongoing investigations into people-smuggling networks affecting the UK, the agency's director general of operations Rob Jones said.
The Conservatives criticised the funding announcement as a "desperate grab for headlines which will make no real difference".
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: "Labour has failed and their laughable claim to smash the gangs lies in tatters. They have no serious plan, just excuses, while ruthless criminal gangs flood our borders with illegal immigrants.
"The British public deserves real action, not empty slogans and tinkering at the edges. The Conservative Deportation Bill is the only real solution. Immediate detention, rapid removal and shutting down these illegal networks for good."
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage also criticised the announcement, telling the Daily Express: "This is not the first time we have seen a Labour or Conservative government throw taxpayer money at the illegal immigration crisis and hope it will go away.
“After all, we have sent over £800 million to France since this all began, for very little in return.
"Keir Starmer told us he would smash the gangs — first in opposition, and then continued since entering No 10. In reality, all he has smashed are records on illegal immigration instead. In fact, crossings are up 50% on this time last year.
“Another £100 million here or there won’t move the needle. It won’t stop the boats or the gangs.”
