Sheffield people share opinions on Home Secretary’s new migration deal with France

Suella Braverman travelled to Paris to sign a deal that will increase the UK’s payments to France in the hopes that it will bring down the number of people crossing The Channel. Over 400,000 people have made the crossing in 2022 and the Home Secretary is hoping that her new deal can reduce that statistic.

The UK government will increase its payments by eight million pounds a year. The sum will go towards hiring 100 more French police officers to patrol the coast, drone equipment, night vision equipment, detection dogs and stationing UK officers in France to observe current patrols.

Braverman has claimed that the deal will see a 40 per cent increase in the number of French patrols on their coastline. Co-operation between the countries is a large part of the new deal and there will be efforts from officers on both sides to be more communicative over their work.

The Home Secretary has told MPs that the deal is a step in the right direction but it will not fix the entire migrant crisis. She said: “I’m not going to overplay this agreement. Is it going to solve the problem on its own? It won’t, but I do encourage everybody to support the deal we have secured.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spoken positively about the deal at the G20 summit but has also said that “even greater cooperation” with the nation of France is needed to continue to improve the situation. He said: “I’m confident that we can get the numbers down. But I also want to be honest with people that there isn't a single thing that will magically fix this. We can’t do this overnight.”

The Star asked its readers what they think about the Home Secretary’s new deal with France.

Readers such as Dale Easyd are not in favour of the new agreement. He said: “May as well throw a load of cash in the air in a supermarket. It would benefit the UK more.”

Some readers were not happy that UK police forces were not getting an increase in funding.

Andy Green wrote: “But no extra police patrols where cars are being stolen left right and centre?” Margaret Walker agreed, she said: “What about some extra money to man our own coastal patrols?”

The cost of living crisis has made some readers think about where else the money could be invested.

Peter Moore said: “The NHS is struggling and the government is still squandering out money.”

Olly Connolly pointed out the money could have been used to improve the current system which has come under fire for having large backlogs. He said: “The money could have been used to process asylum claims a bit more quickly.”

Gail Walker commented something similar she wrote: “Put the money into sustainable modest accommodation instead of using hotels and process the applications within three months instead of only four per cent of them in a year.”

Andrew James was concerned about where the money for the new deal is going to come from. He wrote: “They will find the money by taxing the working class people of this country, who at the moment, can’t afford it.”